


Blonde Angel

by bjfic_archivist



Category: Queer as Folk (US)
Genre: Abuse, Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Angst, Canon, Crossover, Drama, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Season/Series 05
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-11-26
Updated: 2006-03-08
Packaged: 2018-12-26 23:17:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 18
Words: 27,961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12068979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bjfic_archivist/pseuds/bjfic_archivist
Summary: Crossover between QAF and Dark Angel.Justin has a secret that could change everthing. How will his family react when that secret is revealed and how will he face his past? This is my first fic so feedback is welcome.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Note from IrishCaelan, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [The Brian/Justin Fanfiction Archive](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Brian_Justin_Fanfiction_Archive). To preserve the archive, I began importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in September 2017. I posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [The Brian/Justin Fanfiction Archive collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/bjfic/profile).

Max kicked in the door to White’s private office. Anes White had been chasing her and her family for far too long. It was time to put a stop to White and his men killing the transgenics she helped escape from Manticore.

 

Looking through White’s office for anything to help her, she came across a safe that she figured was her best bet. Max put her ear to the safe to try and crack it open. Her years of training at Manticore and her genetically enhanced senses had proved useful in these situations.

 

All of a sudden, Max heard footsteps coming towards the office. Before she had a chance to react, Alec and Logan appeared behind her.

 

“Shit guys!! You trying to give me a heart attack or something?!” she spat at them quietly, so as not to attract attention to the rest of the building they had broken into.

 

Alec looked at her nonchalantly. “Hey, we were just trying to stop you from getting yourself killed. If White catches you here he’ll kill you. You know that right?”

 

“Well I hadn’t planned on him catching me you asshole!” she said through clenched teeth.

 

Max and Alec had a love/hate relationship. They had met in Manticore when Max had been captured a year earlier and just couldn’t seem to get rid of each other since escaping.

 

“Guys, rather than just arguing, why don’t we just find what we came for and get the fuck out of here,” ever the voice of reason, Logan said.

 

Max looked at Logan wondering what he was doing there. Since Manticore had given her the virus that would kill Logan if they ever touched, she and Logan rarely spoke, though she longed to touch him- kiss him.

 

“Right let’s just do this” Max said.

 

She turned and opened the safe with precision speed that came from her military training. Inside she found files. Flipping through them she noticed that they were all of the original X5 series from Manticore. The X5 series that she was apart of and that she escaped with when they were just nine years old. They were all there. Even herself. She found the file labeled 452. Her file. It scared her that White had files on the original X5 series. These were her brothers and sisters. Looking through the pile she noticed one labeled urgent. It was 400. Justin. Shit. She needed to get to Pittsburgh now.


	2. Blonde Angel

Justin had just finished his first day back at PIFA since his suspension, and was headed for the dinner for the dinner shift. His hand ached slightly but that was expected since he hadn’t drawn a lot over the last few months. Since his suspension, Brian’s illness, and the Rage movie, Justin hadn’t had much time for his art. However he had decided that becoming assistant art director for the Rage movie was counterproductive for his goals, and re-enrolled at PIFA. He also took Brian up on his offer to move into the loft with him. They had been living together for a month and things had been going well so far. They had both agreed to talk more often so that another ‘Ethan’ situation wouldn’t occur, and they were still tricking, just not as much and not at the loft, which suited them both fine. They were always able to wear each other out anyway.

 

Justin arrived at the diner and Debbie was on him straight away. “Sunshine! Well? How was your first day back at school baby?”

 

“Fine Deb thanks. Where do you need me?” Justin asked wanting to get to work.

 

“Tables four and eight need clearing and the guys need to order,” she told him indicating to the booth where Brian, Michael, Ben, Emmett and Ted were sitting. 

 

“Sure thing Deb”

 

He cleared off the tables and then went over to the guys. “Hey guys,” he leaned in and gave Brian a brief kiss. “What can I get ya’s?” 

 

After taking their orders and sending them to the kitchen he came back for a proper kiss. Justin practically sat in Brian’s lap and started kissing him passionately, pushing his tongue between Brian’s lips to explore his mouth. The other guys at the booth simply ignored them and continued in their conversation. It wasn’t the first time that made out like that in public and it wouldn’t be that last. When they finally pulled apart breathless, Brian smirked at him saying “Tough first day back at school Sunshine?”

 

Nodding his head while stretching the muscles in his right hand Justin replied, “I didn’t realize it would be so hard to get back into it. My hand hurts like a bitch.”

 

Brian immediately looked worried and grabbed Justin’s hand massaging it gently. “Well if you continued with your exercises while you weren’t at school, it wouldn’t be such a problem,” he said in a somewhat concerned voice.

 

Ever since the bashing, Brian was really sensitive about Justin having pain in his hand and he hated to see Justin suffering. In a way he would always blame himself, even if Justin told him everyday it wasn’t his fault.

 

“Shut up Brian,” Justin said tensely. Justin still couldn’t believe it happened. Even with his military training and his enhanced strength and senses being an X5 transgenic he couldn’t stop it from happening. He could only guess that he was so happy that Brain showed up at his Prom that he was off his game. It still bothered his so though, even after so long. He was always the best at everything they were trained at Manticore, and was secretly ashamed that he was taken down so easily by Hobbs.

 

“Hey Sunshine! Get that bubble butt into gear. These fags are dangerous when they’re hungry. Brian, let the poor kid work!” Deb yelled from behind the counter.

 

Justin got up and went to work. An hour later the guys got up to head off to Woody’s and then Babylon. Brian told Justin he would pick him up at 2am when his shift finished, and said goodbye with yet another kiss leaving them both breathless.

 

“Before you go asshole, you and Sunshine are coming over for dinner tomorrow night. We’re celebrating Justin getting back into school,” Deb said proudly. “Be there at six and don’t be late,” Debbie added pointing a finger as Brian’s face.

 

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world Deb,” Brian replied sarcastically and left.

 

 

The next night Brian and Justin arrived at Deb’s at 6:30. Justin went to see Brian at Kinnetic at 5 o’clock. They had two particularly good fucks, one on Brian’s desk and the other in Brian’s big leather chair, and the next thing they knew it was close to 6 o’clock. They quickly went home, showered, dressed and went to Deb’s.

 

“Hey Sunshine! Asshole you’re late,” Deb said as soon as they stepped foot in the house. She always seemed to blame everything on Brian.

 

“Well they have to get in their evening fucks Deb. A boy can’t go all day without cumming,” Emmett said from his place on the couch. Ted, Michael, Ben, Hunter, Deb and Melanie laughed, while Lindsey and Carl winced thinking ‘how inappropriate.’

 

“You know it,” Brian said smirking while Justin simply smiled. “Now where’s the food, Sunshine needs to eat to maintain his energy,” Brian quipped putting his arm over Justin’s shoulder and giving him one of his teasing smiles. Justin lightly elbowed him in the side and laughed.

 

They all sat down to eat. Brian put Gus in between him and Justin so Mel and Lindz could look after their new daughter Jenny. He didn’t mind though, he was getting to spend more time with his sonny boy since the baby was born and he liked it. Most weekends, Brian, Justin and Gus could be found at the loft just hanging out like a family. ‘God I’m becoming such a dyke’ Brian thought. The thing that disturbed him the most was that he didn’t mind at much as he should. He loved it that Justin and him were living together again. He was rarely tricking and that didn’t bother him at all. He was even thinking of stopping all together, though he wasn’t going to tell Justin that. At least not yet.

 

They were almost finished dinner when they heard a loud bang on the roof. “What the fuck was that?” Deb shouted.

 

Justin, having a bad feeling, almost got up but was beaten to it by Ben. “I’ll go check it out,” he said.

 

“I’ll come with you,” Michael said getting up as well.

 

Before they could leave the kitchen a beautiful dark haired girl appeared in the lounge room coming from down the stairs.

 

“Hi Jus,” she said looking straight at Justin.

 

“Hey Max,” Justin replied in shock.


	3. Blonde Angel

“Well this place is a shit hole,” Alec commented coming out from behind Max looking around critically.

 

Justin was immediately alert and was up between his family and Max and this stranger at a pace that could only be described as superhuman. His family was shocked and speechless by how he moved.

 

“Who the fuck are you and what are you doing here Max? I thought you were in Seattle. You said last year it wasn’t safe for us to see each other and all of a sudden you show up here at Debbie’s! How the hell did you find me here anyway? I never gave you this address!” Justin was babbling. He knew it. He didn’t care. He was definitely on edge and ready for a fight. He even forgot his family was sitting right behind him listening to everything he was saying. 

 

“Jus calm down. This is Alec, he’s a…well he’s not a friend, he’s a total dick actually but he’s from Mant…”

 

“Yeah I get it Max,” Justin cut her off finally realizing his family was hanging on their every word.

 

“Um Yeah. Anyways, we’ve been tracking you for about a day now. So we kind of followed you here,” Max said realizing that everyone was staring at her. 

 

Brian got up and stood besides Justin. “Why the fuck have you been tracking Justin and who the fuck are you people?” Brian said in a quiet yet menacing tone.

 

“Brian it’s okay. I’m just going to go outside and talk to my friends. These guys are my friends,” Justin said trying to calm Brian down.

 

“Hold it Sunshine, tell us what the fuck is going on!” Deb said in her no nonsense voice.

 

“Besides, we can’t go outside. We got company. And not the good kind. We were being followed,” Alec spoke in an indifferent voice dropping down on the couch.

 

“And you lead them here, are you out of your fucking minds!!” Justin was mad now and was yelling at Alec aggressively.

Alec quickly got up from his seat on the couch and got in Justin’s face. “Hey, settle down blondie. If you were more on your game you would have realized that they are following you too. Probably have for weeks!” Alec replied equally aggressive. “But noooo! Here you are living your perfect life. It couldn’t possibly be that you’re in the wrong could it. Have you always been such a bitch or has it only been since you starting taking it up the ass.”

 

Justin narrowed his blue eyes at Alec in a threatening way and said. “My life is anything but perfect asshole. You think you are the only one who has ever suffered. Well think again. I grew up just like you. Just like Max. I just found a reason not to fight when I got a chance. That’s all.” Justin tried to calm his anger and addressed Max. “What’s going on? Is there a problem?”

 

Max didn’t know how much to say in front of Justin’s family so she just stuck to the facts. “There’s this new guy. White. Asshole. Bad news. Anyway, we broke into his office. He had your file Jus. It was marked URGENT. Those are his men out there. Believe me when I say we do not want to get caught. For some reason though, he wants you and is determined to get you.”

 

Justin stared at Max a moment taking what she said in. “Shit. We’ve got to get out of here. And I mean all of us. I’m not letting them near my family,” he said gesturing towards the table.

 

“What the fuck is going on Justin? Who are these people that are after you?” Brian asked trying to control his anger and fear.

 

“I’ll explain everything later. I promise Bri. First we have to loose those guys out there. How many are there Max?” Justin said trying to regain some control of the situation. 

 

“Four. You, me and Alec should be able to take care of them. That is if you can?” Max asked Justin aware of what happened with the bashing.

 

“I’ll be fine,” he said tensely, then turned to his family. “Guys, stay here, don’t move. We’ll be back in a minute. Don’t worry Bri,” he added when he could see him start to protest. 

 

Brian looked at Justin and could see he was serious. He nodded and sat at the table.

 

Max, Justin and Alec walked to the front door. “I think the front on approach should work. Since they are tracking us we can’t sneak up on them anyways,” Alec said then turned to Justin. “By the way man, I didn’t mean anything before. It’s been a bitch of a few days and I act like a fuckhead when I’m tired.

 

Justin could tell he was serious and smiled and nodded. Max laughed and joked, “Don’t you mean all the time Alec.” The three headed outside.


	4. Blonde Angel

As soon as they got out the front door they were attacked from both sides. White’s men had seen the three transgenics inside from outside the window and knew that they had to attack.

 

Max had one of White’s men down almost immediately with a high kick to the head. Alec quickly took one of the other three men out knocking him out with a swift hit to the face.

 

Justin who was a little out of practice when it came to fighting, ended up on his back with one of the last two of White’s men on top of him, pining him down. When he stepped out of the house he was caught off guard and was hit hard on the side of his head. The same side he was hit with a baseball bat on. The scar broke open and started bleeding heavily down the side of his face. Lying on the ground with the man on top of him, Justin quickly regained his bearings and kneed the man in the balls hard, causing him to fall down beside Justin. Justin quickly got up and swiftly kicked White’s man in the head effectively knocking him out.

 

Justin then noticed the last of White’s men approaching the front door to the house and got mad. These men were not getting near his family. He ran and jumped and caught the man just before he reached the door. Justin threw him in the opposite direction to the house and ran after him landing a high kick squarely on his face and knocking him out. 

 

“Wow man, maybe you’re not as out of practice as you thought,” Alec said coming up to Justin.

 

“Jus, you okay?” Max asked also making her way over to him. “You’re bleeding pretty bad there.”

 

“I’m fine. Just an old wound that’s been reopened,” Justin replied trying to sound as calm as possible. He was anything but calm though. His head was pounding. He hadn’t felt pain like this in his head since he first woke up from the coma after his attack.

 

“I think we should get you inside and try stop the bleeding. Then we can decide what we’re going to do next,” Alec said helping Justin toward the front door.

 

Meanwhile inside…  
“Brian, do you have any idea what is going on?” Lindsey’s concerned voice asked.

 

“Yeah, what the fuck is going on?” said Deb.

 

“Guys, I don’t know shit. I’m just as clueless as to what is going as you are,” Brian told them defensively.

 

“But you must know something Brian. I mean you live with him,” Michael whined.

 

Before Brian could answer, Justin came inside the house with Max and Alec on either side of him, helping him walk so he didn’t fall down from the pain. He was bleeding heavily from the side of the head. Seeing the blood Brian had a flashback to the parking garage where he held Justin’s limp body that was bleeding badly from the same side of his head. Pushing that thought out of his mind, Brian quickly got up from the kitchen table and headed towards him. 

 

“Jesus Justin! What the fuck happened, are you okay?” Brian asked him in a terrified voice while he brought him into his arms.

 

“I’m okay Bri, I heal fast. I just need to sit down for a second,” Justin replied and Brian sat on the couch pulling Justin to sit on his lap. 

 

Justin looked kind of dazed and Brian was scared Justin was seriously injured. Justin was feeling more embarrassment than pain now. He couldn’t believe he got taken down that easily again. Sure he took White’s men down too, but what the fuck happened to him? He used to be the best.

 

“We’re gonna need some gauze and a needle and thread. We need to close up the wound,” Max said to Debbie. Since she had been tracking Justin she was well aware of each of his family members and knew Debbie would be the one most likely to get what she needed fast.

 

Debbie got what Max needed and Max cleaned and stitched up the wound. Justin held onto Brian while she was fixing him up and started to get drowsy.

 

“Jus, you need to stay awake. You have a concussion. Anyway we need to decide what we are going to do now,” Max told Justin.

 

“Justin you need to tell me what’s going on,” Brian practically begged.

 

“I will Bri I promise. We just don’t have time right now. We need to go right now. Who knows how long it will take for more of White’s men to come,” Justin tried to sooth his clearly on edge partner.

 

“Or White himself,” Alec spoke up. Max and Alec exchanged a look of dread.

 

“He’s really that bad huh?” Justin asked them.

 

“Yeah. He kicked the shit out of both of us. Right Max?” said Alec in an acidic tone.

 

Max simply nodded at that. “Listen, Logan gave us a van to use. We should get your family together Jus, and get out of here. We have some place safe we can go but it is quite a drive, we should get moving now.”

 

Justin shook his head. “Okay.” He gathered himself together and used his military training to will away any lingering pain from his most recent injury. When completely composed he turned to his family. “I know I haven’t explained what is going on but I need you to trust me. Right now we are all not safe here. We need to go with Max. If she says it is safe to go where she wants to then it is. I trust her with my life. But more importantly, I trust her with all your lives. Now I am going to go with her, I need you to trust me and come with us.” 

 

Justin stood up and headed for the front door without a backward glance hoping that his family would follow. Which they did.


	5. Blonde Angel

When they got on the road, Max and Justin sat up front with Alec driving while Justin’s family sat in the back where they could not hear the conversation going on up front. They had tried to find Justin’s mother and sister to take with them but they found out that they were staying at his mum’s friends place in Chicago. He figured they would be safe there.

 

Max and Justin spoke the whole time since they started driving. She told him all about Terminal City in Seattle, which was where she intended to take them. Terminal City was a refuge of sorts for trangenics. There were now thousands of them inhabiting this city and White wouldn’t dare try to infiltrate it. There were simply too many enemies there for him to battle. Max explained all about White to Justin. About how he was in some sort of breeding program that had been going on for thousands of years and had managed to make a race of people smarter, stronger and faster than even the X5 series. 

 

Justin asked if it was like having Lydecker around again. Alec put it simply saying, “Ames White ain’t Donald Lydecker. He’s smarter, stronger, and has all of his cult-mates backing him up. It’s some kind of secret army, and we don’t know who they are, where they are, or how many of them there are. We don’t even know for sure what their capabilities are.” 

 

Other than that Justin and Max were the only ones in the van to speak. In the back, not being able to hear what was being said up front, the family simply sat in a shocked silence. They left their lives in Pittsburgh and still didn’t even know what was going on. They were scared. Well all except Brian. Who had moved past scared and straight onto pissed. Pissed that they had to leave the Pitts. Pissed that he had not idea what was going on therefore no control over anything. And finally pissed that it was obvious Justin had been lying to him. He still had no idea who these people were that Justin seemed to know so well, and couldn’t for the life of him figure out why these “White” people were after him. And the longer he had to stay in the back of this van without any answers, the angrier he got.

 

After about three hours of driving, Justin decided that it was time that he spoke to his family. More importantly that he spoke to Brian, who he could only imagine was pissed as hell about being kept in the dark for so long. So they pulled into a service station. Alec went off to get some fuel, and Justin asked Max if she could explain what was needed to his family while he took Brian off alone to explain in the kind of detail he would demand.

 

Justin got out of the front and went to the back door. He opened it and said, “Brian can you come with me? We need to talk.” Brian immediately got up and out of the van standing beside Justin. “Max is going to come in the back there and talk to the rest of you,” Justin continued to his family with an apologetic look.

 

Max got in the van and shut the back door while Justin and Brian walked off to a nearby bench to the side of the service station.

 

Once they were both seated Brian turned to Justin and said with as much patience as he could muster, and also a little concern, “Tell me what’s going on Jus. Are you okay?” He asked as he lightly brushed Justin’s now open scar on his head with the back of his fingers.

 

Justin smiled at his concern. He loved when Brian worried about him, and for him to show it while he was obviously pissed made Justin love him all the more. “I’m fine. I said before I heal pretty fast and it was just an open wound. Nothing really to stress about.”

 

He took a deep breath trying to prepare himself for what he knew he now had to tell his lover. Taking hold of the hand Brian was using to gently touch his wound Justin continued. “Bri, what I have to tell you will shock you and I still have no idea how you or anyone else for that matter will react. But it is now painfully obvious that you need to know. Not only that, for what you guys are going through, you deserve to know the whole truth. All I ask it that you let me finish, don’t interrupt until I’m done. Cause if you do I may not be able to finish. Do you understand?” 

 

Brian simply nodded his head curious and also slightly afraid of what Justin had to tell him. He was afraid that it was something that would make him lose his Sunshine forever. He wasn’t sure if he could survive that. No, he was definitely sure he wouldn’t survive that.

 

Once Justin knew that Brian wouldn’t interrupt he continued on. “Okay. Well, the first thing you need to know is that I am adopted. My mom and dad found me and adopted me when I was nine. Before then I lead a pretty shitty life. Have you ever heard of a place called Manticore Brian?” Brian shook his head no. “No I didn’t think you would of. Okay then, have you heard the stories going around lately about mutants? You know wolf man, people with gills?” Brian still silent, nodded his head yes. “Okay good. Well these so called mutants are actually called trangenics. These trangenics come from this Manticore place. They make them. Mess with their DNA. Make them different from anyone else.”

 

Justin stopped to brace himself for what he was going to say next, then he continued. “I’m a transgenic Bri. I’m part of the X5 series made at Manticore. I have enhanced senses, strength, speed and also I have an in depth military training. In short they used to call use their killing machines and we were. The first nine years of my life was spent in military training. What I endured…what we all endured was inhuman. I can’t explain it but just know it messed us up pretty badly. When we were nine some of us managed to escape. Some of us were trapped and kept at Manticore and the rest died trying to escape. The ones that did manage to get away, which includes myself and Max, tried to stay together on the outside. We were nine and we were brothers and sisters Bri. Max is my sister. I went off by myself though. My mom and dad found me and adopted me. I was lucky. None of the others were able to find families.” 

 

During the whole time Justin spoke Brian was dumbfounded. Truthfully, he had no idea what to think. He just found out that the Justin he knew and loved was a lie. He never existed. Brian was speechless. But for some reason, he found that he wasn’t at all pissed at him. The way Justin had described his life and what he had been through made Brian melt and he wanted more that anything to comfort his distraught partner.

 

Before he could though Justin spoke up again in a more panicked voice. “Brian, this doesn’t change who I am. I fought hard to be able to be who I am. None of it is fake Bri. I made my own life. For the last ten years or so I’ve done everything so I could live a normal life. I blocked out my military training and I never use my enhanced senses or powers. I know I lied to you and you hate liars Bri, but I felt it was necessary so I could live my life the way I know I was supposed to. Bri you have to listen to me, my parents don’t even know it’s something that I thought was over but now it’s not and,” Brian could tell Justin was babbling and was starting to cause himself a panic attack so he cut him off.

 

“JUSTIN!! Stop okay. Just stop. You’re getting yourself all worked up. You’ll cause yourself to have a panic attack it you’re not careful,” Brian said while grabbing his almost hysterical partner by the shoulders so he would look him in the eye and know that he was telling the truth. Brian only continued on when he saw Justin calm down. “Good boy. Now, I want you to know that you are right. I agree with you. This doesn’t change a god dam thing. It doesn’t change who you are and it doesn’t change what we have. Okay?” 

 

Justin could only nod hearing Brian’s words. He was so relieved Brian still loved him. They hugged each other tightly and Brian whispered over and over again in Justin’s ear that it didn’t change anything for him. They pulled apart slowly and looked deep into each other’s eyes seeing love reflected. They slowly came together in a loving kiss, just barely opening their mouths and letting their tongues slip through. They held back a little though, they didn’t want it to heat up to much and draw attention to themselves in the middle of the highway. They pulled apart and put their foreheads together.

 

“So what’s the plan then? You guys don’t plan on fucking driving us around in the back of that small shitty van forever do you?” Brian asked jokingly trying to lighten the serious mood they found themselves in.

 

Justin pulled away and huffed a laugh. “Hey it could be worse. We could all be crammed in the vette,” he said teasingly and then continued on more sober note. “We’re headed to Seattle. There’s this place there that’s supposed to be a kind of a safe haven for transgenics. The plan is to hide out there until we can figure out something to do about this guy White that is after us. This seems like the safest plan for all of us I guess.”

 

Brian nodded and smiled at the man he loved. “We’ll do whatever you guys think is best. I trust you,” Brian said sincerely.

 

And at this stage, to Justin, that was the best thing Brian could have ever said to him.


	6. Blonde Angel

After Brian and Justin had finished talking they headed back to the van. Justin had decided to ride in the back for the next leg of their journey to Seattle and safety. He figured he would need to have a talk with his family after what Max told them. He knew they deserved and explanation for what was happening.

 

On the way to the van, they passed Alec who had bag upon bag of food. “What did you do rob the place?” Justin asked smirking. Although they had gotten off to a bumpy start, Justin and Alec got along well enough during the drive and Justin felt comfortable teasing him slightly.

 

“No I bought it you little shit,” Alec replied laughing. “Besides, with that big family you got their Taylor we’re gonna need it. Oh and I also got a furnace filled with hot water so they can heat up milk for the baby,” Alec told them kind of smugly. He knew that during the stress of what was happening that Justin had completely forgot about baby Jenny.

 

It was Brian that went up to Alec and spoke. “Thanks. I’ll take these bags back to the van. I’m sure that they are starving…they always are.” Brian left Justin and Alec in the middle of the service station.

 

Justin watched Brian walk away appreciatively and then turned to Alec. “I’m gonna ride in the back for now. I think we should drive on for another couple of hours and then find someplace to rest. What do you think?” Justin said to Alec.

 

“No problem. We have money Logan gave us. It should be cool to stay in a motel,” Alec said.

 

“How are things with Max and Logan?” Justin asked seeing Max exit the back of the van and make her way to the front. “Last I heard they couldn’t touch each other and it was causing some friction,” Justin explained.

 

“Yeah well nothings changed. They are trying to find a cure but it’s taking forever. Anyway they pretty much decided the best thing to do was to quit seeing each other. Which I have to say isn’t easy considering that Logan lives at Terminal City with the rest of us freaks,” Alec told Justin.

 

“You’re kidding. I thought Logan lived the high life in one of those fancy overprices skyscrapers,” Justin said shocked.

“Yeah well it’s a long and fucked up story. Come on we should go,” Alec said while steering them both to the van. “Oh and try to not mention Logan too much in front of Max. Unless you want your head bitten off.” Alec got into the front of the van with Max, leaving Justin alone outside to compose himself to talk to his family. 

 

He didn’t know how their reactions would be. He knew they had every right to hate him. He had put their lives in danger. And then there was Gus and Jenny. He couldn’t believe he almost forgot about them. He vowed to himself he would keep them all safe no matter what.

 

He opened the back door to the van and slowly got in. Inside he could see only one seat left beside Brian so he sat down next to his lover exchanging a small smile. Once he sat down he looked around at the people on the seats and noticed that no one would make eye contact with him. Every one of his family members, except Brian, was looking straight at the ground with uncomfortable side-glances at each other. The engine of the vehicle started indicating that they were going to start driving off again. The van drove off and everyone was still silent. Well, this is going well, Justin thought to himself.

 

Brian couldn’t stand the silence anymore. “Well I don’t know about anyone else but I’m shocked. I mean who knew our little Sunshine was a super hero,” Brian said mockingly putting his arm around Justin’s shoulder trying to break the growing tension in the van.

 

“He’s not a super hero Brian. He’s a liar. There’s nothing heroic about that,” Michael spoke with venom in his voice. He couldn’t believe that they had been lied to so easily for years.

 

“Ahh but what about Superman. He lied about who he was, Mikey, to protect himself and his family. What’s so different about this? Justin was just doing what he had to do to survive. It’s something we all would have done were we in his position,” Brian tried to make his family understand where Justin was coming from.

 

Silence once again took over within the van. After about five minutes Justin spoke. “Look I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. It wasn’t about lying. I’m no super hero that needs to protect his secret identity so that I can go off helping people where needed. I don’t know if any of you noticed but I’m well aware of what it’s like for people to be after me. I went through high school that way and I ended up with a nice long stay in the hospital for it. I don’t use my powers; I don’t go running off to save people. I was just trying to live my life the way I know I deserved. You all have every right to be pissed at me.” Justin turned to look directly at Lindsey and Mel with their two children. “Especially you two, but I promise nothing will happen to you guys. None of you will be hurt. I love all of you and I will do whatever it takes to make sure you are all safe.” 

All of a sudden the van came to a skidding halt. As the windows in the back of the van were blacked out, Justin wasn’t able to see what had caused them to stop so suddenly. He climbed to the front and opened the window to the front part of the van. He saw that both Max and Alec were unconscious. They both had sedation darts in their necks. Justin immediately started to panic. White’s men had obviously been following them. 

 

Justin knew his family was in danger. He instantly went into action. Moving to the door to the van Justin stopped and turned to his family. “I’m going out there. Stay in here so I know where you all are. No matter what you see or hear stay in this van. Do you understand?” Only when his family all agreed did he continue. “Good. Okay, trust me. I’ll be back soon.”

 

He opened the door and then turned back to smile slightly at Brian, who returned with a nervous smile. He got out and immediately saw two men.

 

‘Well, well, well, what do we have here. You’re the one White is so fussed about finding?” one of White’s men taunted.

 

“You’re not going to kill me,” Justin said with as much confidence as he could muster up. The family watched and listened in shocked silence, unaware that all hell was about to break loose.

 

“Who said anything about killing you?” one of the men said and charged with a super human speed. 

 

The man reached Justin in a flash, and Justin attacked at once, grabbing the man’s wrist in a vicelike grip and pulling, breaking the guy's wrist. With the man holding up his hand in pain Justin quickly delivered a powerful kick to the man’s head, levelling him clear out of sight and knocking him out. The other man pulled a gun out and pointed it at him.

 

The family was shocked seeing how Justin moved. No-one normal could move like that and it become apparent to them that Justin was a formidable opponent. When they saw the other man pull out a gun and point it directly at Justin they were scared. Justin wasn’t bulletproof. That much they did know.

 

“There’s no point in fighting this 400. I’ve been given orders to deliver you to White alive and well, but if you push me I will be forced to kill you. Now, we can do this the hard way or the easy way. I can take you to him without a fight and you and your family will live. Though with White, I do imagine your quality of life will not be pleasant. Your family however would be released now. I have no use for them. So, come with me quietly and peacefully and your family lives. If I am forced to shoot you, I will shoot your whole family, babies and all. It’s your decision. What’ll it be 400?” the man spoke in complete arrogance, knowing that Justin would do what ever it took to keep his family safe.

 

At these words Brian started to panic. He couldn’t lose Justin. He wouldn’t lose Justin. “No! Justin don’t listen to him. If you go with him, he’ll probably kill us anyway!” Brain pleaded with him, desperate for Justin not to agree to the man’s demands.

 

Justin knew as soon as Brian spoke that what he said was the truth. Justin leaped, his feet poised, the man shot the gun at Justin but he was too fast and he ducked and rolled to the side. Justin grabbed the man’s leg, and pulled him to the ground. He went down with a thud causing him to drop his gun some five metres out of reach. White’s man sprang back with a fierce suddenness. Justin winced as he felt White’s man unexpectedly punch him in the face cutting him on the cheek, leaving him momentarily dazed and bleeding. He recovered quickly and returned the favour by kicking out, and hitting White’s man solidly on the jaw. He staggered, but didn't fall. 

 

They circled each other, blood dripping out of Justin’s cheek, a bruise starting to form on the other man’s chin. They glared at each other, anger boiling. Justin saw White’s man reach for something in his jacket. Justin panicked thinking it was another gun but saw a baton in the man’s hand. He it swung at Justin, who leaped back. It swung at him again, and it smacked into Justin’s right hand, breaking three of his fingers. Justin grimaced, holding in the cry of pain that threatened to escape. He fell to the ground and saw that the discarded gun was within his reach. Reaching for it with precision speed he rolled around quickly and pointed it at the other man’s chest. With no hesitation, Justin shot the man in the chest four times, causing him to fall to ground beside where Justin still lye and die.

 

Justin got up quickly, tucked the gun in his pants and walked towards the van like he had just talked to him, not killed him. He was eerily calm and that scared Brian. He had never seen Justin like this. His eyes held no emotion as all. Brian stepped out of the van and approached him, noticing his broken fingers. “You should get them looked at,” he said still not touching his lover.

 

Justin’s eyes softened only a little at Brian’s concerned and touched his arm. “That can wait Bri. We have to get moving. I’m gonna go check on Max and Alec. They’ve been sedated but they should be okay. Once we settle down for the night I’ll have Max fix them,” Justin said to Brian with little emotion.

 

He walked away towards the front of the van, leaving his family shocked and wondering where their Sunshine was. Cause the boy that just left them surely wasn’t him.


	7. Blonde Angel

Justin had been driving for close to three hours. Max and Alec were still unconscious on the seat next to him. He was glad for this time alone. Justin felt wound up tight and anxious. He didn’t like feeling like this; it reminded him too much of his time at Manticore. Justin always found that when he would fight he would disconnect himself emotionally to get through the trauma as a child. Now he found himself doing that same thing during that fight with White’s man. As soon as he mentioned hurting his family, Justin disconnected from himself and charged in fighting, which was something he hadn’t really done since he was a child.

 

He was now coming back to himself and he felt scared. When ever he would disconnect his emotions like he had done, particularly when talking to Brian after he shot the other man, he would always remember what he had done and that’s when the quilt set in. In this particular case he felt little guilt about the man he killed but more so about the looks on his family’s faces. They looked scared of him. He never thought he would see that look from them ever. It seemed Brian was even too scared to touch him. That thought alone made him want to pull over and cry for an hour. But he didn’t. He kept driving and hoped that after all this was through, he still had a family.

 

It was also clear that he would need Max’s help with his fingers. The pain had subsided some but he was finding it harder and harder to drive not bending his fingers. Justin glanced over at Max and Alec. They would come to within an hour, then he would pull over and find a motel for them all to sleep in, as they had not slept all night; the sun was slowly coming up on the horizon.

 

Meanwhile in the back of the van  
No-one had spoken. It has been almost three hours since they had start driving again and not a word was said in the back of the van. Most of them slept; but not Brian. He sat off by himself, trying to process what he had seen with Justin. He had never seen him so emotionally detached, no even after the Prom, and it scared the shit out of him. He didn’t want to lose Justin, but that boy that he had seen kill that man was not HIS Justin. That was somebody else. Somebody the government thought would be fun to screw with for the first nine years of his life. Seeing proof of what Justin told him angered him. If he could he would kill each and every last bastard that had ever made Justin lose his ‘sunshine.’ 

 

He heard rustling behind him and then Emmett sat next to him with far more grace that was normal for the queen. Brian turned to him and Emmett smiled expecting some sarcastic remark from his friend. What he got though was a small smile in return, which was totally unexpected.

 

“Never thought I’d see our Sunshine kill a man. I guess now we’ve seen everything,” Emmett spoke softly to Brian alone.

Brian turned to Emmett with a crushed look on his face. “It’s not that he killed someone right in front of us Em. It’s that he felt nothing. Did you see his eyes? They were blank. I’ve never seen him like that Em and it scares the shit out of me,” Brian whispered honestly to his friend.

 

“Don’t worry honey. If anyone can bring our Sunshine back you can. He loves you,” Emmett tried to reassure his distraught friend.

 

“I’m not so sure I can Em,” Brian said defeated and the back of the van remained silent the rest of this leg of the trip. 

 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

Justin pulled over into a in a small country town motel that had a vacancy sign. Max and Alec still laying unconscious next to him so he decided he would organize rooms for them all. 

 

He opened the window to the back of the van. “I’m just going to see if I can get us some rooms. Stay here and I’ll come get you,” he said without looking at his family at all.

 

He left the van and got some rooms. He then went and collected his family from the van and they organized who would sleep with whom. In the end, Michael, Ben, Hunter, Debbie and Carl shared a room, while Mel, Lindz, Emmett, Ted and the kids shared. Which left only one room for Justin, Brian, Max and Alec.

 

Justin left his family to go to their respective room and went to check on Max and Alec. He noticed that his family had spoken very little to him and when he asked them questions, they were always yes or no answers. He vowed to talk to them and sort everything out when he could. He also wasn’t sure how Brian felt about sharing a room with him but he would talk to him later. Right now he wanted to get Max and Alec up so Max could help him with his broken fingers.

 

He arrived at the van and noticed that they were both slightly dazed but awake. “Hey Jus,” Max said finally exiting the van. “We thought you ditched us and left us for dead in the van. What the hell happened?” Max asked wearily.

 

“We got ambushed and you guys got hit with tranquilizer darts. Don’t worry though; I took care of them no one was hurt. Except the bastard managed to break three of my fingers,” Justin said holding up his injured hand.

“Hmmm well I’ll fix that up for you soon Jus. What time is it?” Max asked noticing that it was almost light.

 

“It’s 5:30 in the morning Max. You guys were out for a good four/five hours,” Justin told her.

 

“Well I don’t know about you guys, but I’m rested,” Alec said stretching the kinks out of his back. “Let’s go get your hand fixed up and then we can eat. I think we should stay here until tomorrow morning so we can be up to our best if trouble finds us. You checked us in under false names didn’t you?” Alec continued.

 

Justin nodded distractedly and said, “Come on I’ll show you guys to our room.”

 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

“Why don’t you go to your own room Bri, we’re trying to sleep,” Lindsey said irritated. Brian had yet to go to his own room and they were all exhausted. 

 

Brian grudgedly got up and headed to his room. He didn’t want to but he found that was avoiding Justin. He couldn’t explain it. He was just to scared to see that disconnected look in his partner’s eyes again.

 

When he arrived at his room he saw that Max was just finishing up setting Justin’s broken fingers. “Those fingers okay?” Brian asked trying to act like everything was normal.

 

Justin could tell that his lover was uncomfortable. “Yeah, there not too bad. They should heal pretty quickly,” he said.

 

An uncomfortable silence then filled the room. Suddenly Max stood up and turned to Alec. “Well I’m hungry. Come get some breakfast with me Alec,” Max said wanting to give Brian and Justin some space. It was obvious that they needed to talk.

 

Alec, also sensing the tension between the lovers, jumped up and they left to get some food leaving the room once again in silence.

 

Justin turned to Brian knowing that someone had to talk soon. “So, is everyone settled in?” he asked figuring small talk was safe.

“Yeah,” was all Brian said. He was quiet for a minute and then decided it was stupid not to talk about what was bothering him. “Look, I think we need to talk. Sit down,” he said and they both sat down on the couch in the motel room.

 

Justin jumped in to talk first. “Bri, you have every reason to be mad at me. It’s just I had to kill that man. You were right, he would of killed you guys if I agreed to go with him,” Justin said his voice heavy with remorse.

 

“Justin would you shut up for a second. Fuck, it’s a wonder I ever get a word in edgewise,” Brian said humorously. Justin smiled and Brian went on. “First of all, I’m not mad at you. You did what was necessary for us all. If anything I’m grateful,” Brian reached out and caressed Justin’s face. “What is really bothering me is how you were after you killed that man. Justin you were totally blank. No emotion at all. I’ve never seen you like that. It scared the shit out of me. What the fuck was that?” Brian asked.

 

“Oh that,” Justin said and looked away, trying to figure out how to explain it to Brian. He turned back to his lover and said, “When we were kids, we did some pretty fucked up things. Things that scared us a lot. I mean we were just kids. Anyway, we found the best way to get through what we had to do was to totally disconnect our emotions from what we were doing. It’s wasn’t pretty, but it worked. I guess when I knew I had to fight that guy I disconnected myself. It makes it easier to do what we have to do,” Justin tried to make Brian understand.

 

Brian sat thinking about what Justin told him. He could definitely understand where he was coming from. He often did something similar when he was a child growing up in the Kinney household. But he didn’t like seeing Justin like that. The thing that attracted him to Justin so much was that his emotions showed so well. It gave him an innocence that Brian found adorable.

 

Brian nodded his head and spoke to his partner. “I do understand Justin. I do. But I like that you show your emotions. It’s my favorite one of your qualities. I hated seeing you like that,” Justin smiled hearing Brian say that. And Brian says he doesn’t do romance, Justin thought. “Justin, I want you to promise me something. I want you to try not to disconnect yourself when you fight. I know that you do have to fight and I accept that,” Brian stopped and smiled seductively and continued. “It was even hot seeing you take charge,” he said then asked seriously. “Do you promise?”

 

Justin smiled again at his word. Sure it would be hard to stop something that he trained himself to do so well, but for Brian he would try. “I promise I’ll try my best Bri,” he said sincerely. 

 

Brian smiled at his blonde and kissed him once on the forehead, then on each eye, and finally claiming his luscious mouth.

Justin wound his arms around Brian’s neck and deepened their contact. He nibbled Brian’s lower lip to get him to open his mouth, and when he did he assaulted him with his tongue, claiming the places he knew so well now.

Brian pushed him down gently with his weight so that he was lying underneath him. He lifted up Justin’s sweater with his teeth, yanking it up over his head, and then proceeded to blaze a trail of kisses from his jugular vein to the valley in between his nipples.

Justin moaned against him while working to rid Brian of his shirt. After the barrier was gone he moved his hands lower, feeling Brian hardening through his jeans. He teased the head of his dick with the tip of one finger, and Brian groaned, even through the hard demin fabric. Justin rolled him onto his back, which giving the narrow width of the couch sent them both onto the floor.

Brian groaned again, and Justin laughed "Sorry baby." Justin rarely called him ‘baby’ but Brian actually found he didn’t mind the pet name so much. He straddled Brian’s waist and proceeded to place searing kisses all over his exposed chest. Brian’s hands slid up Justin’s bare back, caressing the silky skin there. He pulled him closer and gently bit down on the tendons of Justin’s neck. This was an action that he discovered drove him crazy earlier on in their relationship and Justin pulled him up for a kiss. While Justin’s mouth was occupied kissing Brian, he reached one hand to Brian’s jeans and quickly undid the buttons and opened them, smiling slightly when he noticed Brian was wearing no underwear. He slowly started to stroke Brian’s cock, gathering the pre-come at the tip and using it as a lubricant.

 

Brian arched against him with a deep moan, reaching lower and slipping his hand in the back of Justin’s cargo pants, caressing his ass. They stopped kissing and Justin latched onto Brian’s neck, licking and sucking in just the right way. Brian’s hands squeezed and massaged Justin’s bubble butt. Brian then took one hand out and brought his hand to his mouth, sucking in two of his fingers and covering them generously in saliva. He brought his hand back to Justin’s ass and his wet fingers found his hole. Slowly Brian’s fingers entered the tight hole and Justin moaned deep on Brian’s neck. 

 

Brian, hearing that moan from Justin, could no longer take the sweet torture anymore. He needed to be inside his Sunshine now. He pulled back, reversed positions, with him towering over his smaller lover and quickly got undressed, unceremoniously throwing his pant around the away. Smiling down at Justin he quickly stripped Justin of his clothes too. 

 

Just noticing that they were on the floor, Brian asked, “Here or on the bed?”

 

“Here, now, come on Brian. Hurry up?” Justin practically yelled at his partner. He was rock hard and just wanted to get the show on the road.

 

Brian smiled. “Bossy little bottom aren’t you Sunshine.” He reached for his discarded pants and got the condom and lube. Quickly lubing up his fingers, he pushed two fingers straight in Justin’s hole.

 

“Ahh yeah,” Justin cried. Brian finger fucked him for a minute until Justin virtually yelled, “Come on Bri I’m ready.”

 

Brian pulled his fingers out of Justin and positioned his condom-covered cock at Justin’s entrance. He slowly pushed in until he was fully encased in his lover’s warm, tight hole. He stayed still to let Justin adjust. Looking down into Justin’s closed eyes he waited until they were opened. “Okay?” he asked when he saw the blue eyes of his lover.

 

Justin nodded. “Mmmm yeah Bri. Oh god!” He said when Brian started moving.  
They slowly started moving together in soft long strokes in and out. Brian would pull himself almost all the way out then shove himself in again, and Justin met him stroke for stoke.

 

Brian continued the steady stream of strokes and leaned down to nuzzle Justin’s neck whispering, “Jus.”

 

Then he started to intensify the speed. They were nearing completion when Brian reached down for Justin’s cock. Justin swatted his hand away and upon seeing Brian’s confused face Justin said, “You don’t need to I’m almost there.”

 

Hearing his words turned on Brian enormously, so he increased the tempo of their fucking. Within seconds they were both crying out each other’s names and cumming hard. Brian collapsed onto the smaller body beneath him and lay still for a few minutes, his cock still inside Justin.

 

Eventually Brian sat up and pulled out of his younger lover and lay down beside him. Justin moaned in protest and then settled next to Brian with his head on his chest.

 

“You know, we should get on the bed. We’re going to be so sore if we don’t,” Brian said softly bringing his arm out and hugging Justin closer to him.

 

“Yeah but that would mean moving, and I don’t and to move from this position,” Justin said kissing Brian’s chest. Brian nodded and reached up to the bed to grab the blanket, draping it over them. Within seconds they were both asleep on the floor of the motel room, and for the moment, all their problems drifted away.


	8. Blonde Angel

That night, after everyone had spent the day resting, the whole family decided to have dinner in the room that Deb, Carl, Michael, Ben and Hunter were staying in, as it was the largest. Brian and Justin had just finished showering in the room that they shared with Max and Alec, who had not returned as yet much to Brian and Justin’s relief. They really need that time alone.

 

While in the middle of getting dressed Justin turned to Brian. “I still don’t see why we can’t just eat here alone,” he whined. Then continued in a seductive voice. “We could have some more fun.”

 

Justin was reluctant to see his family. After he found out what was bothering Brian he knew that this was also a problem with the rest of the family. He didn’t really want to explain it to them. It was one thing telling Brian details of his childhood, but another thing telling his whole family.

 

Brian stopped getting dressed and moved towards Justin, hugging him close. “As good as that sounds Sunshine, you do need to face them. Just tell them what you told me. Trust me they will understand. They love you,” he reassured Justin.

 

Justin huffed a laugh. “Even Michael?” he said teasingly.

 

Brian smiled as he said, “Actually Justin, I think he does love you. You’re like the little brother he never wanted. Now, come on, get dressed. We’re going to dinner.”

 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

When Brian and Justin got to Deb’s room they saw Max and Alec standing outside waiting for them. “Everything okay now?” Max asked them.

 

Both Brian and Justin nodded smiling. Things were good between them now. 

 

“Great. Um Jus can we talk alone for a minute?” Max asked Justin.

 

“Sure. Bri go inside and save me a seat. We’ll be in in a second,” Justin said to Brian and he went inside leaving the three transgenics outside. “So what’s going on?” he asked them.

“Me and Max were talking. We think we should leave tonight. The only problem is we can’t use that van anymore. White knows it too well,” Alec said.

 

“How do you propose we get to Seattle then? Do you want to could fly out or take a bus or train?” Justin asked.

 

“Well they would be the quicker options accept White would have all the bus and train station covered from here to Seattle. And the airports are a definite no go. White would have had them covered the second we left Pittsburgh,” Max told him.

 

“What do we do then?” he asked slowly losing his patience. They were leaving them little options.

 

“There is a train that leaves this town at close to midnight tonight. It’s a freight train that transports shit on a course straight for Seattle. It’s also an express train, which means no stops where White could come on board and find us. And it changes lines and goes of the public train line, so it doesn’t end at a public train station. White wouldn’t be able to find us. We could get onboard and be in Seattle in less then two days. What do you think?” Alec said.

 

“Do you think all of us could get on there without being noticed?” Justin asked skeptically. 

 

“It shouldn’t be too much trouble. We’ll just find an empty carriage that we’ll all fit in,” Max said. “What do you think?”

 

“I think it’s risky but at this point in time we have few options,” Justin said and went silent thinking it through for a minute. Then, “We’ll do it. But we need to get supplies, and lots of them. Including the children there are fifteen of us. We’ll need heaps of food and blankets, plus we need some clothes.”

 

“All taken care of Jus. It’s all in the van; we’ve been busy today. All we’ve got to do is put it in bags to carry. Why don’t you go have dinner with your family and tell them what the plan is. We’ll need to be at the train depot by around eleven so make sure everyone is ready. We’ll come get you at around 10:30,” Max said to Justin.

 

Justin nodded halfhearted and Max noticed her brother’s reluctance. She walked up to him and took him in a hug. “Don’t worry Jus. We’ll protect your family. I promise,” she said quietly and then pulled away and walked towards the van with Alec, leaving Justin still with an uneasy feeling. 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

Justin walked in the room and took a seat at the table next to Brian. He looked around the table and noticed that the uneasy feeling he had with his family was gone. They were talking amongst themselves and no one seemed to be avoiding his eyes. It was like everything was normal.

 

Justin leaned in close to Brian and asked, “What’s going on with everyone?”

 

Brian who had Gus in his lap, was well aware of the reception Justin thought he was going to get with his family, smiled. “I had a little talk with them. Don’t worry they understand everything,” Brian said quietly.

 

Justin simply smiled, happy that his partner took care on one of his problems, and kissed him chastely on the lips, then ruffled the hair on the Gus’s head.

 

They had dinner like they normally would; talking about normal things and Justin loved it. He smiled the whole time; but knew that he had to tell them about their plans. He didn’t like the plan; there were to many things that could go wrong, but truthfully Max and Alec were right. They really had no other options.

 

It was just after dinner when Justin decided to broach the subject of what they were going to do. “We’ve come up with a plan,” he said to no one in particular then continued. “It’s not a great plan, I’ll be the first to admit, but it is pretty much the only option we have now. We need to get to Seattle quickly and the van is no good to us now. White could find it and easily trace it now. We can’t use any form of public transport because White would have all stations and airport staked out from here to Seattle.”

 

“What are we going to do then?” asked Carl. Being a policeman he wasn’t used to being in situations where he had no control and he didn’t like it. But for the sake of the family he was willing to go along with Justin. So far no harm and come to them and he hoped it stayed that way.

 

“We’re getting on a train tonight that leaves at midnight. It goes straight to Seattle and it isn’t a public train so White shouldn’t be able to find us. At least we hope so and we should get to Seattle in a little under two days,” Justin said.

 

Everyone was silent taking in what Justin said. It was Lindsey that spoke first. “We trust you Justin. If this is the only way then we’ll do it. Right?” she asked the family. Everyone nodded and Justin was relieved.

They spent the next couple of hours getting ready to leave. Then at 10:30 Max and Alec came for them and they left for the train depot, which was in walking distance to the motel.

 

When they arrived the train was still and it seemed that only the first eight carriages were in use, leaving the last two empty.

 

“Alec and I will check to see if the coast is clear,” Max said to Justin who nodded.

 

They ran off to one of the empty carriages and quickly disappeared inside. A minute later Max popped her head out and signaled to Justin that everything was clear. They quietly went and got into the carriage. They settled in, laying blankets and making makeshift beds for them. They settled down and waited for the train to leave.

 

At midnight the train began to move and their long journey to Seattle began.


	9. Blonde Angel

The train ride was long, cold, and boring for the whole family. The cold winter made the carriage that they were riding in uncomfortable with a chill. The blankets were not enough to keep everyone warm, so the family formed little groups that huddled together to preserve heat. It worked well so the cold did not hamper the trip too much.

 

They made sure to ration the food so it would last the trip, but they found that that was unnecessary, as the train was ahead of schedule and they would make it to Seattle in a little over a day and a half. Their main problem was that they had no bathroom and no one could make a toilet stop. But other than that and the cold, the trip was easy enough for them. 

 

They passed time by talking, with most of the family keen to get to know Max and Alec. One such conversation was about Terminal City. The family was eager to find out about the place that they would call home for whatever amount of time it would be.

 

“So Max honey, tell us about this place Terminal City,” Emmett asked Max. They had been huddled together for the last two hours and they found that they actually liked each other. 

 

“It’s basically a shelter for the transgenics that have escaped Manticore,” Max said.

 

“Thanks to you,” Justin interrupted proudly. Max glared in his direction, unimpressed by the praise, and continued on.

 

“It started out as just as an underground sewer that some of us were hiding out in. But as the numbers of us grew the place got bigger. Now it starts off underground and continues into a large high-rise building with heaps of living and working space. We also have a huge area around the place that we have made sort of a village to live in. There are literally thousands of us too. And with some help from a friend, we have a huge security system and state of the art computers in the huge main room that we call, the ‘Centre.’ It’s where we monitor what the government is doing, just in case they decide to turn against us, which they have in the past. But the good thing is the place is completely secure.”

 

“Sounds like you have a pretty good set up,” Ted said. “Where’d you get the kind of money you’d need for that?”

 

“A friend,” Max told them. She wasn’t going to tell them about Logan just yet. She liked these people, but she didn’t think it was any of their business.

 

Max also told them about the kind of people that they would see at Terminal City and what to expect from them. She told them that many would look very different from them but not to be afraid. They only let the peaceful transgenics stay there and most were just trying to survive anyway. They didn’t mean anyone any harm. She told them about Joshua and how he was like a brother to her. She knew that Joshua would want to play with the little boy Gus. He was always so playful with the children at the city. She also told them about how they would stay in hers and her friends Original Cindy’s living quarters. She assured them that they would be comfortable and warm and the most important thing that they would be safe. 

 

The train ride continued with no sight of White, in which Alec meticulously guarded the door to the carriage to make sure he was not seen and they were not followed.

 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

It was early morning, just after dawn when the train finally stopped. They were ready to leave as soon as they made it within Seattle city limits, so as soon as the train stopped they left the carriage and made their way out of the train depot. Max had called ahead so Logan sent a few cars to pick them up and take them to Terminal City. They were relieved when they saw the cars and immediately got in them, making their way to Terminal City.

 

Justin and Brian were able to share a car together alone, accept for Alec who drove the car, which they were grateful. They hadn’t been able to be this alone for the last two days.

 

“Nervous Sunshine?” Brian asked Justin. He had noticed Justin scratching his head, which was what his lover did when he was nervous.

 

“No. Why would I be nervous?” Justin said trying to act casual.

 

Brian huffed a laugh. “You suck shit at lying Justin. Anyway, what have you got to be nervous about?”

 

“Brian, these people, these transgenics are mutants. Some are… well freaks. And I guess that with me being one… I just don’t want you guys to see me that way,” Justin told his partner his major fear.

 

Brian actually laughed at that. “We already know you’re a freak Justin. We knew that long time ago,” Brian teased.

 

“Ha fucking ha Brian. You’re so funny asshole. You know what I mean Brian!” Justin said exasperated. 

 

Brian put his arms around Justin. “It’s going to be okay Justin. We’re all pretty open minded I’d like to think. Besides after everything that’s happened, you actually think anything could make us stop loving you?” Brian said seriously and Justin kissed him lightly in response.

 

Alec pulled the car up to a gate that was about eight foot high. It was connected to a high fence surrounding the city. The gates opened and Alec slowly pulled in with the other cars closely behind. They drove through what had to be the village that Max told them about but it was quiet. Most of the people were still asleep.

 

They continued on until they reached a large building in the centre of what was known as Terminal City. It was at least 20 storeys high and actually looked well maintained. Alec pulled the car into a space not far from the large entry door obviously used by the transgenics for access to the huge building.

 

Brian, Justin and Alec got out the car while the other cars pulled up next to them. Alec turned to Brian and Justin and said, “Most of the people live in the village we passed through before, but some, Max and myself included, live in this building.”

 

“It’s a little big if only a few of you guys actually live in it, isn’t it?” Brian asked curious as to why they needed that much space. He wondered if having such a large building in which some of them lived would make it more of a target.

 

“Well, it’s also our base of operations. Like Max told you guys, we have the ‘Centre’ for monitoring and stuff like that. But we also have many training areas which are in this building. We like to keep in shape so we all keep training here, minus the military stuff of course,” Alec explained as the rest of the group joined them. 

 

“We’ll walk upstairs to the ‘Centre’, you’ll be able to see some of the training areas and there should be some of the leaders up for you to meet,” Alec said as he led them to the entrance.

 

“Leaders?” Emmett asked.

 

“Every squad made had a leader. They were genetically made to be innate leaders, so naturally when this city was formed, they were in charge. They just make decisions and shit around here, they don’t actually have any real authority,” Alec told them.

 

Hearing this, Justin was very interested to meet the leaders. He knew what it was like to be given that kind of responsibility.

 

Max and Alec led the family through the long corridor to the large stair staircase. They made their way up to the seventh floor and went into another corridor. Either side of the walls were completely made of glass and they could see large rooms. Some looked to be shooting ranges and other looked to be like gyms, but they couldn’t be sure as the place was bare of people. 

 

They continued down the corridor until they got to a large security door. They opened the door and revealed what had to be the main room known as the ‘Centre.’ They slowly moved into the room and noticed that unlike the rest of the city, this room was full of people busy doing whatever job they had to do. The family could see straightaway that what Max said was true. There were literally hundreds of mutants just in the ‘Centre’ at this moment. Some looked to be human like Justin, Max and Alec. Others were clearly not human. Many looked to be half human and half some other animal. The family looked around in amazement, finding that they were not scared of these people, but because of what Max had told them about the transgenics just simply intrigued.

 

Max and Alec lead them to the centre of the room to where what looked to be a large area of computers that was set up. Max walked up to a man that was working on one of the computers. He sensed her coming and stood up to face her. Max smiled at him hesitantly which he returned. 

 

“Hey Logan,” she said.

 

“Hey,” he replied. He looked behind her towards Justin and his family. “Everyone get here alright?” he asked concerned.

 

“Yeah, we made it here all in one piece. Come on, I’ll introduce you to him,” Max said and led Logan over to meet her brother and his family.

 

“Logan this is Justin. Justin, Logan,” Max introduced them, and then pointed out his family. “This is his family from Pittsburgh. They’ve come here for refuge from White,” Max explained to Logan. She then continued with a proud look to Justin. “Justin was the leader of our squad and the first of the X5 series ever made. He doesn’t even have a Barcode. As the X5 series were the most advance transgenics ever made, that means Justin was seen as the leader of all the transgenics made at Manticore,” Max spoke to Logan. Logan looked impressed.

 

The transgenics surrounding them heard this and looked at Justin in astonishment. They had all heard of him; they knew he was their leader. One of the transgenics close by then knelt down in front of Justin. Justin was going to tell the mutant to stand up when all of a sudden, all the trangenics in the main room knelt down facing Justin. All Justin and his family could do was look around in bewilderment at the hundreds of transgenics kneeling down for him. This he did not expect.


	10. Blonde Angel

Justin looked from the hundreds of transgenics kneeling before him to Max. He was pissed to say the least. Saying that he was their leader made him feel really uncomfortable. It was once true when he was a child in Manticore, but now, more than a decade later, he could never see himself as a leader, someone to be admired as he was right at that moment.

 

Walking towards Max and pulling her off to the side Justin whispered harshly, “What the fuck are you playing at Max? Why did you say that shit?!”

 

“It’s the truth Jus. Everyone knows about you. Why do you think I was so eager to bring you here? We need you to lead us if we are going to have any chance of stopping White,” Max quietly said matter of factly.

 

This just further angered Justin. He thought his sister was just trying to help him keep himself and his family safe. Max saw the anger in Justin’s eyes and spoke quickly. “Of course I also thought you guys would be safer here. But come on Justin, look around, you belong here. You were born to lead them.”

 

Justin was tired and he just wanted to have a shower and sleep. He looked to his family and could see that they were confused. He looked Brian in his eyes and knew that he wanted answers about what Max had said and why these mutants were kneeling before him. Also looking at his family, he could see that they were as tired as he was.

 

Determined to sleep and forget about everything for a while at least, Justin turned to Max. “We’ll discuss this later. Right now we need to get clean and sleep. We fucking stink; none of us have showered for days.” Max nodded apprehensively as she could see her brother still was pissed. “Just take us to where we’ll be staying Max,” Justin said exasperated. Max led Justin and his family to her sleeping quarters.

 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

Brian decided to let Justin shower and sleep before even trying to get some answers out of him. He could see his partner was tired and took pity on him and let him rest before he interrogated him. Justin was asleep, and Brian was spooned behind him holding him to his chest in bed in what they now called their bedroom. Luckily, the living quarters that Max shared with her friend had many unused bedrooms, so there was plenty of room for Justin and his family to live.

 

Brian had not been able to sleep. He simply laid behind his sleeping partner holding him tightly and watching him sleep. Brian always thought Justin was beautiful when he slept. Not that he didn’t think he was beautiful awake (Justin was obviously gorgeous), but when he slept, he looked so innocent and carefree. Brian could never remember being that way. But now Brian had to wonder. Justin didn’t have the perfect childhood Brian always thought he had, so how did Justin ever retain any sense of innocence? It amazed Brian that Justin was the loving, caring, beautiful man he had become.

 

It was late in the afternoon when Justin stirred in Brian’s arms and turned over facing his lover. He opened his eyes and looking into hazel eyes. “Hey,” he said and leaned up to lightly kiss Brian. “Did you sleep?” Justin asked groggily.

 

“Actually no. I wasn’t that tired,” Brian said and then continued more serious. “You gonna tell me what that was about before?” 

 

“Ah, I knew this was coming,” Justin said cringing. He sat up and turned to Brian. “It’s no big deal really. I was the first of the X5 series; the leader of our squad. It basically means that I had it genetically inbuilt in me to lead my squad into battle and give orders when needed. I also had responsibility for the safety of my squad. Somewhere along the way, no doubt helped along by Max, I sort of became the leader of all of the transgenics at Manticore.”

 

“So they all think you’re their leader. What do they expect you to do?” Brian asked suspiciously.

 

“Nothing, I think. I mean what could I do? There’s nothing really for me to do. It’s bullshit anyway so don’t worry about it,” Justin said dismissively.

 

“But they don’t think it’s bullshit Jus. What if they do expect something from you?” Brian asked worried that the transgenics would asked too much of Justin.

 

“Then we’ll deal with it then,” Justin said leaning in to kiss his partner. Just as it started to get heated up the door to their room opened and Gus launched himself onto the bed between Brian and Justin laughing.

 

“Dada, Jus, we’re goin’ to eat. Come eat with us!” he squealed to his father and the man he saw as his other daddy. “Jus, they have Joshua. He’s great, he looks like a doggy!!” he said and then jumped off the bed and ran out of the room, leaving the door open.

 

“What the fuck is he talking about?” Brian asked Justin.

“I don’t know. Come on, lets go find out. I’m starved,” Justin said getting out of bed and getting dressed.

 

“So what’s new,” Brian said jokingly and got up and dressed. They both left the room and headed to where they could here the noise of their family at mealtime.

 

Entering a large kitchen, Justin, with Brian beside him, could see his family looking at home eating around a large table. Debbie was serving out food to the rest of them, including Max and a woman he hadn’t meet. He couldn’t see Gus but he could hear him squealing in laughter somewhere close.

 

“Sunshine, Brian! Come eat. We haven’t had a good meal in days. Come sit down!” Deb yelled out when she noticed the couple watching the family in the doorway.

 

They moved forward and sat at the table. Justin was amazed that they all seemed so at home. They were talking among themselves and laughing like they were sitting in Deb’s house eating dinner, rather than in the middle of this mess that he got them into. He sat quietly eating some of what had to be Deb’s pasta, outwardly looking calm and happy. On the inside however, Justin felt uneasy and guilty about their current predicament. He wasn’t sure how long they would need to stay at Terminal City to be safe and was unsure how it would all end.

 

Justin was brought of his thoughts by Brian whispering in his ear, “Stop thinking so much Sunshine. Everyone is okay and we’ll work everything out.” Justin smiled; he wondered how Brian always knew what he was thinking. Justin leaned in to lightly kiss the man he loved as thanks for the reassurance.

 

When everyone had finished eating and where just sitting at the table talking, Max apprehensively came over to Brian and Justin with someone behind her. “Jus, I wanted to say I’m sorry about before. I want you here, not because you’re our leader, but because you’re my brother first and foremost,” Max apologized not wanting to fight with her brother.

 

Justin could see that she was sincerely sorry and stood up and wrapped her up in a hug. When he pulled back he could see the woman he saw before behind Max. “Who’s this Max?” he asked.

 

“Oh, sorry, this is my roommate Original Cindy. Cindy, this is Justin,” Max introduced them.

 

“Hey Boo. Good to have you here,” Original Cindy said friendly. 

 

“Thanks for having us,” Justin said back already starting to like this woman. All of a sudden Gus came bouncing into the kitchen laughing loudly with a large man following behind. The man stopped when he noticed Justin and Justin could clearly see that this man was a transgenic. He looked like he was half man half dog.

 

“Max, is this him?” the man/dog asked.

 

Max smiled. She loved Joshua. “Yeah, Joshua this is Justin. Justin meet Joshua,” Max said.

 

Justin was going to say something when Joshua grabbed him and took him into a bone-crushing hug. When it was obvious Joshua wasn’t going to let go soon and Justin couldn’t breath, Max came forward. “Joshua, let go he has to breath,” Max said and Joshua released his grip.

 

“Sorry Max. I’m just happy my brother is here,” Joshua said excitedly.

 

Justin looked at Max with his eyebrows raised and said, “Brother?”

 

“Yeah, he figures that since you don’t have a barcode and he doesn’t either that you must be brothers,” Max explained.

 

“Oh okay. Nice to meet you Joshua,” Justin said to the man/dog that thought of him as his brother.

 

“Jus, Joshua’s nice. We played,” Gus said tugging at Justin’s leg pants.

 

Justin leaned down and picked up Gus. “That’s nice Gus. Do you like it here?” he asked the boy.

 

“Yeah!” Gus said with the rest of the family smiling and nodding in agreement. Once again Justin was stunned that his family trusted him and was willing to put their lives on hold for him.


	11. Blonde Angel

“We need some more supplies today,” Logan said to Max and Justin, who were sitting at a computer searching for anything on White. Since Justin had come to Terminal City, many of the mutants looked up to him and treated him as their leader. Justin didn’t mind too much; accept that he didn’t really see himself as a leader anymore. When Justin had brought it up with Brian he had said he was a natural leader and that’s why they treated him like that. Justin came back saying it had nothing to do with him being a natural leader. He said Manticore had made him a leader and that these mutants were still brainwashed into believing it. Justin thought it was a load of shit.

 

With Justin’s ‘duty’ as the so-called leader of the transgenics, he had been given responsibility for such things as supplies. When his family had arrived they felt as if they did very little to contribute so they took on the job of helping bring supplies from outside Terminal City.

 

“That’s cool. We’ll take care of that later today. I’ll take the guys out and get some stuff,” Justin said to Logan.

 

“Max and I will come along. I have someone to meet near the market today anyway,” Logan told him. Justin nodded and went back to his search.

 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

Justin and his family had been at Terminal City for a little over a month. They rarely left their living quarters unless to get supplies so they hadn’t heard or seen anything from White or his men. They were all glad of that and had settled in well with the mutants. They were somewhat uneasy at first seeing the mutants. Some were so different from human and they were kind of frightening. But most of the transgenics were nice enough and the gang slowly started to feel totally comfortable in Terminal City.

 

Joshua had grown particularly close to the family. He felt close to Justin, as they were both original models and the first of their kind. They both were made without barcodes on their necks and Joshua kind of thought of Justin as his brother because of that. Gus, in particular loved playing with Joshua. At first Lindsey, Mel and even Brian were reluctant for Gus to be playing with such a big mutant, but Max assured them he was just like a puppy dog and they accepted him. He became good friends with most of the gang.

 

Justin was happy with how things were going for his family at Terminal City, but he was well aware that they missed their lives back in Pittsburgh. He hoped that the situation with White could be resolved soon, so that they could go back to their lives. But it was hard to see when that would be.

 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

Justin got Brian, Michael, Ben, Ted, Emmett and Melanie to go with himself, Max, Alec and Logan out of the City for supplies. There was a market not far from the City so they didn’t need to travel far from Terminal City to get food, weapons and other supplies. To stay relatively out of site they went through alleys and moved quietly and quickly in the early afternoon rush of Seattle.

 

Max, Alec and Justin led the way in case of any trouble. Rounding a corner to an alley, Max and Alec suddenly fell to the ground. Justin stopped with his family and Logan behind him and saw two men with stun guns, which left Max and Alec unconscious on the floor.

 

“Sorry to mess up any of your plans there 400,” a man drawled coming of nowhere and making his way towards the group, stopping in front of them. When Justin didn’t respond he continued. “Maybe I need to introduce myself. I’m Ames White. I’ve been looking for you for a long time. Imagine my luck when I find not only you, but what appears to be your family too. I’m going to enjoy killing them.”

 

At hearing this Justin lost what little control he had. He could not bare to let anything happen to the people he loved. Justin rushed forward, intent on taking White down when White was upon him in a flash; a three-punch combination coming in faster than any normal human could have managed. Justin was pressed to keep up, but managed to avoid being hit. A quick series of kicks followed, followed by another onslaught of punches, and Justin slowly began to alter his strategy, forming his parries into counter-strikes as he attempted to take the offensive. Their movements began to blend into each other, and Justin was impressed by White’s fighting. He was fast, strong, disciplined, and… “Oomph,” Justin groaned as an unexpected elbow followed a reverse punch, connecting solidly with his jaw and sending him to the floor, quickly followed by an iron-toed boot connecting with his forehead, temporarily knocking him senseless. 

 

Before he could recover his wits, Justin felt his body rolled over and his arms pinned behind his back. His family watched in horror while being held back by White’s men. White picked up Justin and turned him so he was facing Brian, Michael, Ben, Ted, Emmett, Melanie and Logan with Max and Alec in front of them having been knocked out by the stun guns.

 

“I’ve waited a long time for this. You got yourself a nice family there 400. I hope you enjoy watching us torture and kill them,” White hissed in Justin’s ear. Just then Justin felt a prick to his neck and slowed passed out from whatever drug they injected into him.


	12. Blonde Angel

Justin was very cold and stiff. He was blindfolded and his head hurt, and when he reached up to touch it, he discovered that his wrists where bound together with thick metal chains. He felt weak, which indicated to him that he had been drugged and therefore did not have the strength to break out of his bindings. The floor he was sleeping on was damp. Through a minute gap in his blindfold, he could see his breath misting the air as he breathed out of his nose. There was tape over his mouth. He could also see that he was in some kind of building, though he had no idea where and where his family was. He hoped to god that they were okay. If anything happened to them he would never forgive himself. 

 

He jumped slightly as heavy footsteps approached him, watching warily as they walked past his vastly reduced field of vision. He heard the man- he knew it was a man from the footsteps and his acute hearing - pick something up and turn round. The next thing he knew, he had been roughly pulled to his feet. He barely managed to stop herself form crying out in pain as the man yanked roughly on his stiff muscles.

 

His right ankle feet way under him, and he would have fallen had it not been for his captor's rough grip on his arm, which was wrenched painfully as he fell. He was dragged into another, larger room. He knew it was larger, because the sound of their footsteps echoed.

 

After exactly 12 steps, he was pushed roughly to the floor. The tape covering his mouth was roughly ripped off. He gently touched his sore lips with his tongue. The blindfold was left on, but he could see a tiny amount of the room. Enough to realize that he was in deep trouble. 

 

"Who are the hell are you people? What the hell do you want with me and my family?" Justin asked hoarsely. 

 

His captor's only answer was to backhand him hard across the face. He tasted blood and knew the man had split his lip, as he'd hit him. He wiped it away with the back of his hand and smiled grimly. His hands weren't free, but there was enough slack in the chain to give him some freedom of movement.

"Go to hell! Whatever you want you won’t get it! I want to see my family now!” Justin spat.

 

The man’s booted foot lashed out, hitting him squarely in the chest. For a few awful seconds, he couldn't breath because of the pain. It felt like the man had broken everyone of his ribs. The moment passed, and he took a deep breath, feeling his ribs protest. God, that was bad, he thought shakily. If he died in this god-forsaken place, it would be on his feet though, not on his knees; that was for sure. He vowed to himself that he would not break down in front of these people.

 

“That’s enough!” Justin heard Ames’ White’s voice from within the room. He heard the other man back off and White approach him. All of a sudden Justin’s blindfold was taken off. “Sorry about the shitty treatment. It’s not easy to find good help,” White said smugly to him.

 

“What do you want?” Justin asked fierce with anger.

 

“What do I want? Well there’s a lot I want, but at this precise moment all I want is to cause you pain,” White spat at Justin completely changing his tone of voice to anger.

 

“Why? What did I ever do to you?” Justin asked, truly curious as to why this man despised him so.

 

“Oh it wasn’t me you did anything to. It was my father. Don’t you recall your first search and destroy mission? To find Jeffrey White and kill him for being a so-called threat to national security. Don’t you remember rigging up his car with explosives, meaning to kill him and only him? Only you didn’t just kill him 400. You killed my mom and my two sisters too!” White shouted in Justin’s face.

 

Justin could vaguely remember this mission. It was his first ever solo operation. He was the only one of his squad to go out on these missions and they were seen as a privilege among the children. He did remember that there were other casualties that resulted in this particular mission, but to him, at the time they were simply casualties of war.

 

“That wasn’t the intention White and you know it. You’re fighting man, you know there are always casualties of war,” Justin tried reasoning with the man; which was an obvious mistake as he received a swift backhand to the face.

 

“You wouldn’t be saying that if it was your family,” White said menacingly to Justin and continued to the other man in the room. “Bring them in.”

 

The other man walked out and returned seconds later with Brian, Michael, Ben, Ted, Emmett and Melanie. They looked terrified and when they saw Justin they audibly gasped. His clothes where torn and dirty, covered in dried blood and dust. He was wearing a pair of thin cargo pants and a white, now so dirty it was grey with slashes of red, wife beater. They had obviously stripped him of his sweater when he was captured. His clothes offered him little protection from the bitter cold and the family noticed he was shivering visibly. 

 

They were lead further into the room and were stopped and held guard by White’s men. Justin was unsure as to what was happening and was scared they were going to get hurt. He offered his family a small smile to help reassure them that he was still okay, even though he did look like death warmed up. 

 

“I could just kill them now and let you know how it feels like to lose everything you love. But right now I want to make you all suffer. So, I decided it would be nice if they could watch us torture you until you past out. How does that sound?” White said to Justin and without waiting for a response, left the room. He was immediately replaced by a man carrying a bag. He walked over to a nearby bench and opened his bag. It was filled with every kind of torture devise that could fit into a small container.

 

Justin worked hard not to show his family how scared he was. He sat defiantly; ready to take whatever this man dealt him and hoped that he would survive. He still needed to find a way out of this place and save his family. He also wondered where Max, Logan and Alec were, but that wasn’t important now. What was important was surviving this now so that when he got his chance, he could escape with his family in tow. 

 

The man wordlessly approached Justin. He surveyed him as if deciding what he would do first. He smiled at Justin and went back to the bench. Seconds later he came back to Justin and picked up his hand, examining his well cared for fingernails carefully and Justin knew what was coming. He tried to pull his hand away from him and failed. He was too weak from the lingering effects of the drug they gave him and the injuries already inflicted upon him. That combined with the heavy metal chains around his wrists made it almost impossible for him to resist. There wasn't enough slack to get the leverage he needed to pull his hand free.

 

The torturer started with his left thumbnail, gripping it firmly with the pliers and pulling. Justin screamed as the nail was painfully pulled clear of his thumb. Brian and the rest of the family winced hearing his pain filled scream. Brian was in tears watching this man brutally hurting his Sunshine.

 

The torturer waited a moment until Justin had started to recover from the pain and then pulled out another nail. This time he managed not to scream. He was very close to passing out. The man pulled out nail after nail and slowly Justin let the darkness take his pain away.


	13. Blonde Angel

Justin woke up alone. He was hurt quite badly, he knew. He struggled to sit up, took his dirty wife beater off and then wrapped his wounded fingers in it. He wondered where his family was and worried if they were okay, but he was in too much pain to do anything at the moment. Suddenly he heard someone approach the room he was in and another man came in and dragged him to him feet. His chains had been removed while he was unconscious, indicating that they no longer saw him as a threat due to his injuries. The man was supporting most of his weight and didn't speak to him, but silently dragged him through a maze of corridors.

 

The building they where in had been abandoned for years, he could tell from the dust and dirt everywhere he looked. He was shaking with the strain of walking. Finally, they came to a door. The man opened it and pushed him through.

 

He landed heavily on the floor with a groan of pain. The heavy metal door slammed and he was left alone in the cold, dark room. He stayed like that for quite a while, until the pain he felt subsided to a more manageable level. From what he could see of the door, he thought that the room had once been a large freezer. He could hear his own heart beating in the silence. His breathing was loud.

 

He sat with his back to the farthest wall from the door, huddled back into the corner. The wall was metal, and cold on his bare back, but he was glad it was there. It made him feel just a little bit safer. He had never been so scared in his life. Eventually, he fell asleep, curled up around his injured body. He guessed that he'd been asleep for about four hours; from the way the small amount of light coming into the small room had changed.

 

He thought, this could be it. I could die today. My family could die today. For the first time in a long time, he knew what it felt like to be so completely vulnerable and hated it. The feeling crashed over him so suddenly it left him shaking. He wrapped his arms around his knees, trying to keep warm. Cold tears ran down his face, but he made no move to wipe them away.

 

Time passed and he didn't notice. The door was opened and a glass of water was put down inside the room. He didn't notice. In his mind, he could only see images of Brian. They flashed through his mind like a mental photo album. In some he was smiling, in others grim. The most prominent one was of Brian dead. He shook his head to clear it of that dreaded image. He focused on the image of Brian’s face in his mind and a new feeling surfaced.

 

Determination. Determination not to let them win. He wanted to live. He wanted to see Brian and his family again. Most of all, he wanted to destroy White and his men so that he could go back to his life in Pittsburgh with Brian. 

 

His eyes had adjusted to the darkness and he could make out what looked like a large axe on the wall next to the door. He stood up carefully and with one hand resting lightly on the wall, and walked over to it. It was an axe. He went slowly to the door and tried to swing the axe to break the lock, but he was weak. Stepping back he took a deep breath trying to rid himself of emotion like he taught himself as a child. He knew he promised Brian he wouldn’t disconnect from himself anymore, but he decided that desperate times called for desperate measures.

 

Once he had successfully disconnected to himself he felt little pain. With little effort he broke the lock to the door, and exited the cold room. He once again found himself in a winding corridor and decided to move and try and find his family. He checked each door carefully as he moved down the corridors. He hadn’t found Brian but he did find a room that looked like a science lab. Looking around he could see that whoever worked here was working on a cure to some disease. Getting a closer look, Justin released that this was the cure to the disease that Max carried targeting Logan. He quickly grabbed the notes, stuffed them in the back of his pants and continued down the corridor.

 

Coming to a T intersection of the corridor, he turned right and straight away knew it was a mistake. One of White’s men was walking towards him. Once the man noticed him he yelled, “Hey, you’re not supposed to be out here,” and charged straight for him with super human speed. 

 

When the man reached him he attacked, aiming a punch at his head. Justin ducked past him, and managed to get in a quick jab as he span past. He jump kicked the other man in the face, then span as soon as he landed and kicked him in the middle of the back. Justin hit him with his elbow bent so that the inside of his arm snapped out with stinging force across the other man’s face. White’s man lost his balance and had to take a step backward to re-balance himself.

 

After that one tiny victory, things rapidly changed. The man kicked Justin in the collarbone. The impact knocked him into the wall. It was like being hit by a car. He lay on the floor, too stunned and in too much pain to move. The other man kicked him in the ribs. A sharp pain started in his ribs where the foot had connected and he knew that he'd broken a few of his ribs.

 

White’s man kicked him in the stomach. He gasped and curled up from the pain. The pain was still there, but he blocked it out as he got to his feet, willing himself to concentrate only on his opponent. If he didn't, he was as good as dead. The man kicked him again, sending him to the floor. He was in no condition to fight, especially against as skilled as opponent as this man was.

 

The other man smiled lazily as he approached Justin. Justin watched him warily as he tried to gather the energy to get up, knowing that the man was going to do something to him. Knowing that it was going to be bad. White’s man smiled again as Justin struggled to get to his feet. The man’s foot slammed into his shoulder, sending pain racing through it.

 

Justin rolled away from him before the next kick could find its target, and got painfully to his feet. He had just launched a flying kick against White’s man when all hell broke loose.

 

Justin had no time to react as the other man pulled out his gun and fired. The sound seemed to echo endlessly round the room. There was no pain as the bullet entered his chest, just terror and the need to get away from the man. The pain, he knew would come later. Black dots swam around the edge of his vision. His legs gave way and he slumped to the floor. His last thoughts before he passed out where of Brian.


	14. Blonde Angel

Justin came round a few minutes later. He knew that he was lying on his back, because he could feel the hard floor under his bare shoulders. He could also feel something cold and sticky. Oh, god, he thought, that's my blood. He remembered the gunshot, the lancing pain in his chest.

 

I'm shot, he thought, shocked. With that thought, the pain began. He knew that he needed help. His movements where slow and shaky. His chest felt like it was on fire. He could feel a sticky wetness there and knew it was his own blood. He was terrified, not of dying, but of leaving Brian behind.

 

Around him, he could hear the sounds of a gunfight. He could also hear Joshua’s voice. Within seconds, the sounds of the gunfight stopped, leaving him to wonder if he'd imagined them.

 

"Joshua?" he said quietly to nowhere in particular. Joshua’s worried face appeared in his line of sight and he knew that he was safe. 

 

His eyes met his friends and a silent plea passed from him. Joshua nodded and Justin closed his eyes, trusting Joshua to keep him safe. Justin was shivering and his face was white and drawn. Joshua knew that he must be in terrible pain.

 

“Jus, we get you out of here,” Joshua tried to comfort him.

 

A pool of dark looking blood had formed beneath him. He looked down and saw the gunshot wound just below his ribs before one of the medic transgenics at Terminal City came over to him. The medic reached into his small bag and pulled out a syringe and a vial of morphine. He knew that he shouldn't give him too many painkillers but he could see that Justin was in a great deal of pain. He couldn't let Justin suffer. He gave him the injection and Justin drifted of in a drug-induced sleep thinking of Brian and that he hoped he was safe. 

 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

"Justin, wake up, please." Brian begged. He'd been repeating the same words over and over again for the last hour, since his lover had come out of surgery. He got up, and walked round the room. He found that the movement helped to ease his nerves some.

 

As he passed the end of his lovers’ bed, he picked up Justin’s chart and started reading it hoping to make sense of it and ease his fears for his partner’s health. He sucked in a deep breath as he saw the full extent of Justin’s injuries. He had a broken wrist, broken ribs, a punctured lung and cuts and bruises all over her body, as well as his almost healed broken fingers. The doctor who'd written the chart had also noted that his fingernails had been pulled out, which Brian had been lucky to witness personally.

 

He put the chart back and walked back to the chair where he'd been sitting and took a seat. He took Justin’s hand and watched his face for any movement.

 

Justin had an oxygen mask on his face. Beneath the mask, his face was covered in small cuts and bruises. A nurse walked soundlessly into the room through another door and adjusted the IV line, injecting what he suspected where pain killing drugs. 

 

He'd been sitting there for a few hours when Justin’s voice startled him. "What happened?" he asked groggily. His voice came out weak and shaky. Brian reached over and gently took the oxygen mask off his face, letting him talk more easily. His side felt like it was on fire. He knew that if he dared to look, the whole of his body would be covered in cuts and bruises. He hurt all over.

 

"You were shot." Brian said simply.” The bullet punctured your lung and you lost a lot of blood, but you're gonna be okay."

 

"Oh," he said. Brian didn't tell him how close the bullet had come to hitting his heart. Justin smiled at him, then closed his eyes, tired. Brian liked the fact at he was smiling.

 

“Where am I?” Justin asked with his eyes still closed.

 

“The hospital. As soon as they found you they brought straight you here. They didn’t have the facilities to help you at Terminal. You had to have surgery,” Brian told him trying to keep his tears at bay, thinking about what his partner had been through.

 

“How did I get here? I remember Joshua, and hearing gunfire, and then someone gave me a shot of morphine. How did you guys get out?” Justin asked quickly, completely confused as to how he ended up here.

 

“It seems your friends at Terminal City didn’t like the idea of us being captured. Especially Joshua. He formed an army of sorts and they stormed the place, guns blazing. They were amazing, took out most of White’s men. Though they said they couldn’t get White himself. Seems he bailed,” Brian said taking hold of Justin’s hand and caressing it.

 

“Doesn’t matter we’ll find him,” Justin said and then opened his eyes suddenly and turned to Brian with concern. “Are you okay? They didn’t hurt you did they? How’s everyone else?” Justin asked anxiously. 

 

“We’re all fine Jus. White didn’t even get to us,” Brian said then looked closely at Justin’s bandaged fingers. “He was too busy with you,” Brian said bitterly.

 

“I’m okay Bri. That’s all that matters now,” Justin tried to sooth his partner. “Though I am tired so I think I’m gonna sleep for a while longer.”

 

“Go to sleep Sunshine. I’ll be here when you wake up,” Justin heard Brian say as drifted of to a peaceful sleep; happy knowing his family was safe for now.

 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

Once Justin had fallen to sleep Brian decided that now would be as good as time as any to find his family and tell them about Justin’s condition. Max, Alec and Logan had been taken back to Terminal City as soon as they had been saved. He didn’t need to find them; he would talk to them later. He lightly kissed his partners lips and left the room. He walked through the ward to the waiting room, where he knew his family had been waiting for news of Justin for hours. He didn’t want to tell them anything until he had spoken to Justin for himself.

 

As he entered the waiting room he noticed that they were all asleep. He was glad he was able to put off talking to them a little longer. Melanie had heard him enter the room and stood up quickly. She was scared for her injured friend. She had been there to see what White’s men had put him through, but still didn’t know of his condition. She had come to see him as her little brother and Gus loved him so much. What would happen if something happened to their Jus?

 

“Brian, is he okay?” she asked him quietly. She didn’t want to wake everyone yet if the news was bad. She still hadn’t told anyone who wasn’t there what White’s men had done to Justin in front of them. None of them had. It was just too hard to say and truthfully they wanted to forget it ever happened. She knew that would be impossible for Brian though.

 

“He’ll live,” Brian said exhausted while taking a seat close but a little away from his still sleeping family. He knew he wouldn’t be sleeping anytime soon. Not after what he had witnessed happen to his lover. As if watching him almost die after a baseball bat to the head hadn’t been enough, now he had to witness some asshole torturing the man he loved until he passed out. 

 

Melanie approached Brian cautiously. Although they weren’t the best of friends, she could see that he was clearly hurting over Justin right now. She wanted to know more about her friend’s condition but didn’t have the heart to ask Brian now. She wanted to comfort Brian somehow, but couldn’t see how. 

 

Mel sat next to Brian, looking at him with sympathy. He had his head back and his eyes were closed. He looked like shit. “You know he’ll be okay Brian, don’t you. I mean he’s one tough kid. This won’t keep him down,” she said reassuringly.

 

Brian lifted his head and turned to look at Mel. “He was shot in the chest Mel. Two centimetres to the left and it would have been in the heart. He wouldn’t of been here in the hospital, he would of been in the morgue,” Brian said desperately. He was almost in tears but he didn’t want to lose it yet. Not in front of Mel. Not in front of anyone.

 

Melanie sat stunned. She wasn’t aware that Justin had been that badly injured and was in shock. She wasn’t sure how much abuse Justin’s body could take. She was amazed he was still alive. Mel was aware of how much Brian was trying to keep it together and really had no words of comfort for him. There truly wasn’t any. Instead she touched his shoulder and he once again turned to look at her. The hurt was even more clear on his face and she did the only thing she could think of. She moved in front of him and leaned in, hugging him, holding him in her arms.

 

Brian didn’t know what to do. Him and Mel never really got along, but here he was with Mel hugging him, trying to comfort him. It was working though. He realised he needed this and hugged her back. At the same time his emotions got the better of him and he started crying, holding onto Mel like she was his lifeline.


	15. Blonde Angel

Max had been sitting by Justin’s side for about two hours. After she had been back to Terminal City and briefed the leaders on what happened to them with White, she left and headed straight for the hospital. She had seen the condition her brother was in when they had been saved and worried that she would never see him again.

 

Since Brian wasn’t sitting by Justin’s side when she got there, she assumed that he was resting with his family. She knew that Brian and the others were not hurt by White, but they were certainly shaken up by what happened and she didn’t blame them if they were tired. It seemed that White didn’t have time to get to herself and Alec either, and he had only really focused on Justin. She still wasn’t sure of why White had fixated on Justin. She only knew it was bad for her brother to have someone so powerful as an enemy. 

 

Justin was the only one captured to get hurt, and by the looks of him he was hurt quite badly. After Max was freed from the room White was holding her in while the effects of the stun guns wore off, she saw Joshua with Justin in his arms. She immediately panicked. She knew it was lucky that his family hadn’t seen him then because she was sure he was dead. He was bleeding badly and clearly unconscious. 

 

After Justin had been rushed to the hospital Joshua came over to her and hugged her tightly. She hugged him back; she had never been so glad to see him. Logan, who had also been freed, came over to them. Pulling away from Joshua, Max saw Logan. She was so happy he was okay and wanted nothing more than to hold him in her arms. She knew she couldn’t however because of the virus she held that would kill him. She smiled sadly at him, which he returned.

 

“Max, Justin had this,” Joshua said presenting some papers to her.

 

Max took the papers and looked at them. Noticing what she was looking at she exclaimed, “Holy shit!” She then turned to Logan. “Justin found the cure Logan.”

 

“Max?” Max was brought out of her thoughts by the sound of Justin’s voice.

 

She leaned in close to him. “Hey Jus. How you feeling there?”

 

“Like I’ve been shot,” Justin said wincing while sitting himself up in bed. “How long have you been here?”

 

“About two hours. I didn’t want to wake you,” she told him.

 

Justin smiled gratefully. He did need to sleep and he did feel a little better than the last time he woke up with Brian. He was still in a lot of pain though. Noticing that his lover was absent Justin asked, “Where’s Brian?”

 

“He wasn’t here when I got here. He must have gone back to Terminal to rest,” Max said.

 

“He’s probably fallen asleep in the waiting room with the rest of the family,” Justin said smiling. He knew his family, and he knew that they would not leave the hospital for at least another day.

 

“I could go find him for you,” Max said getting up.

 

“No, I need to talk to you for a minute,” Justin said and Max sat back down. “I know why White was targeting me,” Justin said.

 

“What? Why?” Max exclaimed.

 

“I killed his father on my first solo mission, along with his sisters and his mother. I got the feeling he didn’t like that very much,” Justin said sarcastically.

 

“Wait, did you say you killed his father?” Max asked shocked.

 

“Yeah. What?” Justin asked confused by his sister’s reaction.

 

“White’s father was Sandeman, Justin,” Max said still in shock.

 

“Sandeman. Who the fuck is Sandeman?” Justin asked getting slightly frustrated. He was still in a fair amount of pain, and all this thinking was making his headache all the more worse.

 

“Sandeman was the guy that came up with the technology and ideas for making transgenics. I guess you could say he’s our creator. Joshua always calls him father,” Max said matter of factly.

 

“And he’s White’s father?” Justin asked still confused.

 

“Yeah. Sandeman was apart of the same cult shit that White is apart of. You know the freaks that are into genetic breeding. They call themselves the Familiars. Anyway, Sandeman decided that he hated waiting the thousands of years it takes for genetic mutations to occur so he started messing with DNA. He came up with the first transgenic which just happens to be Joshua. Later on down that track the government caught wind of what he was doing and Manticore was formed. They took over everything and Sandeman pretty much went missing,” Max explained.

 

“If that’s the case, Manticore must have found him and sent me after him to kill him,” Justin said. “Figures, they wouldn’t want to leave any loose ends. And I’d say Sandeman qualified as one.”

 

“Sandeman must have gone into hiding and started using a different name. White. Shit, I can’t believe you actually killed Sandeman,” Max said amazed. She wondered what this meant. She always thought Sandeman just went into hiding and died of old age. Manitcore never ceased to amaze her.

 

“Well believe me I did. And White is pissed. He’s hell bent on revenge,” Justin said tired. 

 

“I think he got pretty good revenge on you already,” Max said bitterly.

 

“He doesn’t just want revenge on me, he wants to take it out on my family. Which leads me to one conclusion,” Justin said.

 

“What?” Max asked her brother,

 

“His weakness. I know his weakness and if I know his weakness I can use it against him,” Justin said determined.

 

“What his weakness Jus?” Max asked keen to see where her brother was going with this.

 

“Family. Family is his weakness. I remember when I was reading the files on him that he has a son. We get his son and we expose his weakness. I mean he’s this pissed about his father, imagine how pissed he would be if we kidnapped his kid,” Justin said already forming a plan in his head.

 

Max nodded her head. It seemed right. White prided himself in his blood. He would be an easier target with leverage like his son, Ray. They also knew where he was thanks to Logan’s research. “I see where you’re going Jus, but right now you need to focus on getting better. We can talk about this later, when we can get the input of all the leaders at Terminal.”

 

Justin nodding his head in agreement. She was right; he was no use to them in his current condition. He needed to heal before he could fight White.

 

“By the way Jus, where did you get those notes on the virus?” Max asked.

 

Justin smiled happy that she had got them. “I found them when I was looking for you and the others where White was holding us. Will they help any?” he asked hopefully.

 

“Are you fucking me? Of course they will help. It was the cure Jus. Thank you so much,” Max said and lightly hugged her injured brother.

 

Justin returned the hug and smiled. “Don’t say I never did anything for you,” Justin said teasingly.

 

Max smiled and stood up. “I’m gonna go find Brian. Tell him you’re awake and feeling a little better. You must be if you can make fun of me,” Max said and left the room.

 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

Max wandered the hospital corridor looking for Justin’s family. She found them in the waiting room closest to Justin’s room. She smiled knowing Justin was right, they wouldn’t leave until they were sure her brother was going to be okay.

 

Max stood in the doorway to the waiting room just looking at these people sleeping that had adopted Justin as part of their family. It was kind of the same for her and Justin. Technically they weren’t really brother and sister, but she loved him like a brother so according to her he would always be her brother. She was happy that he had found these people to love him though. Justin had had a horrible childhood but was lucky to find parents when he escaped from Manticore. When that family had fallen apart he was fortunate to have found another family, and he still had the love of his adoptive mother and sister Molly. All in all, Max thought Justin was a well-loved person.

 

She watched as everyone slept, secretly jealous and happy that Justin had these people in his life. She looked at Brian who was asleep by himself away from everyone else. She was well aware of the love this man had for her brother. When Justin had been hurt at him Prom, Max had found out as she had Logan keeping close tabs on her brothers and sisters from Manticore. Max had gone straight to Pittsburgh to see how he was. She only was able to go to the hospital at night so she was not seen, but it seemed someone else had that same idea. Every night Max went to see her brother Brian was standing at his hospital door as if he was trying to protect his lover from further hurt. Max watched him night after night and could see the pain clearly on the man’s face. It wasn’t too hard for her to see that Brian was totally in love with Justin. When Justin got released from hospital Max had been able to see and speak to Justin. Justin was obviously in love with Brian too, but that time had been hard on them both.

 

Now here they were again. Only this time, Brian also has to deal with Justin being a transgenic. She knew it wasn’t easy for Brian, and the rest of the family, to accept what her brother was but they had done it for him. She only hoped that they would be able to deal with what was going to happen with White. Max wasn’t stupid. After hearing what Justin had told her about White and him seeking vengeance, she knew that Justin was going to take it upon himself to deal with the White situation. She only hoped that Justin could survive.

 

Max approached Brian and sat next to him. He immediately sensed her presence and woke. “Hey Max. Have you been to see Justin?” he asked groggily.

 

“Yeah, he’s awake if you want to see him,” she told her brother’s lover.

 

He nodded and said, “I think I will. I just need to see how he is and then I’ll come tell these guys how he’s doing.”

 

“You go. I’ll stay here and talk to them,” Max said knowing that the lovers needed to be together right now.

 

Brian smiled in thanks and headed out of the room to see his partner while Max woke the family to give them news on her brother’s condition.

 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

When Brian entered his room Justin sensed him straight away. He opened his eyes and smiled at the man he loved.

 

“Hey baby, did I wake you?” Brian asked standing at the end of the bed.

 

“No I was just dozing. Come sit next to me,” Justin said and tried to sit up. He winced when he felt pain shoot through his chest.

 

“Jus don’t move you could hurt yourself,” Brian panicked and quickly came towards Justin and helped him to lye back.

 

“Bri I’m okay. I’m sure a little pain is normal after being shot in the chest,” Justin said jokingly. By the look on his lover face he could tell he wasn’t impressed by what he said. “Brian just stop stressing and give me a kiss,” he said smiling once he got comfortable.

 

“Don’t make me punish you little boy,” Brian said while moving forward and thoroughly kissing his partner. When they pulled apart Brian smiled. He could tell Justin was indeed feeling better. “You weren’t kidding when you said you heal quick.” 

 

“Just one of the quirks of being a genically enhanced military soldier that escaped from a government facility looking for happiness and love,” Justin teased taking hold of Brian’s hand while he was sitting down.

 

“Twat,” Brian said affectionately.

 

They sat in silence simply happy to be together and alive for a few minutes when Justin turned serious.

 

“You know this isn’t over Bri,” he said gravely.

 

“What do you mean?” Brian asked slightly panicked.

 

“White’s still out there Brian. I have to find him and stop him,” he said knowing that Brian was not going to like that.

 

“Why do YOU have to anything Justin? I mean, fuck have you looked at yourself. He nearly killed you. Can’t you have someone else handle him?” Brian said angrily. He couldn’t understand why Justin had to be the one to deal with White.

 

“Brian White’s men did this and you said yourself that they took out a lot of them saving us. This is something that I have to do. Trust me, when I do finally deal with him I’ll be ready. Max and I have started to come up with a plan. But for now I have to focus on getting better,” Justin pleaded with his partner, hoping that when this was all over he would still be alive and could go back to his life with Brian in the Pitts.

 

“I just don’t see why someone else can’t deal with him,” Brian said exasperated. 

 

Justin wasn’t sure if he wanted to tell Brian about White and why he was so fixated on killing Justin, but he knew Brian had been through enough and deserved the truth. “Brian, I have to deal with this because it’s mostly my responsibly,” he said. Seeing his partners puzzled look Justin said, “ Because he wants revenge on me. He wants revenge on me because I killed his father.”

 

Brian looked at Justin in shock. He was definitely not expecting that. The only thing he could think to say was, “Oh.”


	16. Blonde Angel

Brian was silent for what seemed like forever to Justin after he revealed that he had killed White’s father. Brian’s silence did not seem like a good sign to Justin. He knew the thought that he had killed someone as a child could well be too much for his lover to handle but he thought he deserved to know.

 

Justin decided to break Brian’s silence in his hospital room. The sound of the heart monitor just seemed to be getting louder and louder and Justin couldn’t take it anymore. “Brian?” Justin said apprehensively. 

 

This seemed to break Brian out of his thoughts and he looked at the blonde in the bed. He had seen Justin kill someone before his very eyes when they were fleeing from Pittsburgh, but knowing that Justin had killed when he was a child was a lot to take in. He didn’t blame Justin at all. He knew enough about Justin’s childhood to know that he was trained and ordered to do these things, but it really didn’t make it any easier hearing about it. Looking in his partners blue eyes he could tell that Justin was scared that his silence was his way of judging and rejecting his partner.

 

Brian leaned forward and brushed the blonde hair off Justin’s face with the back of his hand. “Baby it’s alright. I’m not mad. I’m just taking everything in,” he said reassuringly, and Justin released the breath that he hadn’t realized he was holding. Brian leaned in closer and kissed his lover tenderly so Justin would be sure that he wasn’t mad at him.

 

“So White wants revenge for you killing his dad huh? Any way he’ll get over it before anyone else has to die?” Brian said already knowing the answer. As much as he hated his father, he would want to take revenge on someone if they had killed him before the lung cancer could.

 

“I’m afraid it’s not that simple Bri. You see when I killed him I used a car bomb. Only I didn’t realize that White’s mother and two sisters’ would be in the car as well. They were all killed,” Justin said his voice heavy with regret. At the time he hadn’t felt anything about the other lives he had taken, but now being the man he turned into he did feel bad and wondered how White had survived without his family.

 

“Jesus, no wonder he’s royally pissed at you. What do you plan to do?” Brian asked.

 

“Right now I plan to get well and then meet with the leaders at Terminal. We need to discuss what to do about White. I mean, we have taken out a lot of White’s men, but we just don’t know how many people are actually in this cult the Familiars. For all we know, there could be thousands more out there. We might have only put a dent in their numbers. Once we know more we can come up with a plan.” Justin wasn’t going to tell him about his idea about finding White’s son yet. He wanted to be more sure about what they were going to do first.

 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

Surprisingly enough Justin was released from hospital two days after surgery because of his remarkably fast recovery. He was still on strict bed rest but at least he could do that at Terminal City where he and his family were safer. Brian and the rest of the family kept a close watch over him to make sure he got plenty of rest and healed well. Justin was just happy to have them around. 

 

Two days after he was released from hospital Justin woke up early and reached for Brian. When he only found cold on the other side of the bed he sat up carefully, as he was still in a little pain, and looked around their bedroom for his partner. He found him sitting in a couch near the window that looked out onto the city of Seattle. It was still dark and he couldn’t see if Brian was awake so he got up and went over to him. When he reached him he saw that he was asleep. Justin didn’t really want to wake him up as he knew that his lover hadn’t slept much since Justin had been hurt, but he thought Brian would be more comfortable in bed.

 

As he reached over to shake Brian awake Justin heard voices from down the hall. Curious to see who was up at this early hour Justin followed the voices to the living room area of their living quarter. Just before he got there he hear his name being said. He stopped and looked carefully into the room so as not to be seen and listened to Max, Logan and Alec talk.

 

“I know it’s a lot to take in Max but that’s what the files say,” Logan said.

 

“And these files were recovered from the warehouse where White was holding us,” Max asked.

 

“Yeah and I checked them out. They’re legit,” Logan stated.

 

“Shit. I guess Joshua wasn’t kidding when he called Sandeman father,” Alec said shocked.

 

“Yep, it’s pretty hard to believe, but it’s true. Every transgenic that Sandeman made before Manticore took over he fathered himself,” Logan said. At hearing this Justin started. He knew what that meant.

 

“You know what that means though don’t you Max,” Alec said. “I mean, Justin was made before Manticore took over. That means that Sandeman is his father. That means that…”

 

Before Alec could finish, Justin came in the room saying, “That means White is my brother.”

 

“Justin,” Max said shocked. She didn’t want Justin to find out that way. She could only imagine what he was thinking. She expected him to get angry or upset, but when he started laughing she simply didn’t know how to approach him.

 

“I mean, of course he’s my brother. Why didn’t I see it? When there’s something that could make a situation more fucked up it usually happens to me,” Justin almost yelled hysterically.

 

“Justin, if you don’t quiet down you’ll wake everyone. You don’t want that,” Max said soothingly to her brother.

 

“Why shouldn’t they know? Why shouldn’t they hear that I killed my father!?” At this Justin stopped. He actually killed his father. SHIT. He felt sick. Justin fell to his knees and immediately started vomiting on the floor.

 

Max got up from her seat and rushed over to him. She knelt down next to him rubbing his back with her hand. “It’s okay Jus. We’ll work everything out,” she reassured him not at all sure how they could work this out. This was a lot for him to take in and she wasn’t sure if he would ever be okay with this information. 

 

Justin looked up at her with tears in his eyes threatening to fall. “How Max? How can we possible fix this?” he said almost desperate for her to answer him and make this go away.

 

At hearing the desperation in his voice, Max found that she too had tears in her eyes. “I don’t know Jus, I just don’t know,” Max said truthfully. 

 

“How am I supposed to stop White now Max? I can’t kill him. He’s my brother for Christ’s sake, ” Justin said, tears falling freely from his eyes now.

 

Max didn’t know what to say to make this better. She only knew that this complicated matters. She was well aware that most of the leaders at Terminal expected Justin to take care of White. He said he would; but that was before he found out they were brothers. She had no idea how Justin could deal with this information. She knew that White was aware that Justin was his brother, as he had originally had the files that Logan found this information in. Max was also aware that White would show no mercy to his brother, but she knew she couldn’t say the same for Justin.

 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

After his mini breakdown, Justin told Max, Logan and Alec that he wanted to go back to bed. He didn’t want to sleep. He wanted Brian; no he needed Brian. He needed to feel something other than this guilt that he felt consuming him. 

 

When he got to their bedroom, he could see that Brian was still asleep on the couch next to the window. He walked up to his partner and watched him sleep for a few moments. Brian was simply beautiful when he slept. 

 

Justin knelt down in front of Brian and reached over to caress his partners face. Brian stirred at the touch of his lover. He would know Justin’s touch anywhere. “Jus?” he asked waking up.

 

Justin didn’t speak; he just knelt before Brian caressing his face, first with one hand and then the other, cupping Brian’s face in his hands. He wanted to touch Brian. He loved the feeling he got when he touched his partner and when Brian touched him in return. He needed to feel Brian touch him now.

 

Brian sat looking in the blue eyes of his lover and could see something was really wrong. He could see pain and need in Justin’s eyes and his concern grew. But before he could say anything, Justin leaned forward and kissed Brian on the mouth. The kiss started soft and tender, but Justin’s need overtook him and the kiss deepened. After a moments hesitation Brian kissed Justin back with as much passion. He knew Justin needed this and he was happy to oblige him. Justin could already see he needed more and he needed more now. Unable to wait any longer, Justin stood and led them both to the bed while they still kissed passionately. Once there, he reluctantly released Brian and his body cried out from the loss. 

 

After a moment Justin pushed Brian on his back onto the bed. He crawled on top of his partner, not caring about any lingering pain from his injuries. He needed this now.  
Justin grabbed Brian by the shirt and pulled him into a kiss so full of feeling that they both thought they would die. Justin’s hands acted of their own accord and reached down to pull Brian’s shirt up and over his shoulders and threw the shirt across the room mindlessly.

Brian ran his hands all over Justin’s torso, exploring his curves and the sleek lines of his muscled midsection, mindful of his partner’s injuries. He couldn't get enough of Justin’s body. The silky feel of his skin and the sweet smell of his hair had always been an intoxicating combination. Brian would have been content to lye there and touch his lover forever, but Justin had other ideas.

 

Justin snaked his hand behind Brian’s neck and roughly pulled his head forward until his forehead was touching his partner’s. "I want you," he whispered urgently. "Now."

 

Justin lunged even further forward, getting even closer to Brian while they kissed and touched each other fervently. Impatient, Justin reached down between them and ran his fingers over Brian’s jeans covered cock, slowly teasing him as he undid the zipper on his lover’s jeans. Then he slid his hand inside and Brian thought he would go out of his mind. He had never seen Justin so worked up and it turned him on more than he ever thought it would. Justin in charge was a major turn on. Brian flipped them over so he covered his lover’s body and his mouth descended on Justin lips again. Brian’s hands drifted to Justin’s waist and he began to work the hemline of his shirt up and off, running his hands over Justin’s skin as he went. The pads of his thumbs came back and drew lazy circles on Justin’s stomach, his sides, and he arched up against him, murmuring his pleasure.

 

Hearing Justin’s murmurs, Brian decided to speed things up. Justin obviously needed this now. He quickly got rid of both their pants leaving them naked on the bed, writhing together. Brian reached into his discarded pants and got a condom and lube. He quickly put the condom on and lubed his fingers to prepare Justin. He moved his hand down to Justin’s hole when Justin said, “No Brian, just do it. I need you.” 

 

Brian looked into his eyes and nodded. He quickly used the lube on his fingers to lube his dick up and slowly entered Justin. Justin bit his lip as he felt Brian fill him completely. They were a perfect fit together, always had been. He moaned and threw his head back as Brian started to move within him. Justin’s ass felt tight around Brian’s cock, his inner walls contracting every time he pushed himself deep inside of his partner. Brian ran his tongue over the soft skin of Justin’s neck as Justin wrapped his legs around Brian’s waist.

 

"Faster, Harder," Justin gasped as Brian thrust himself inside of his partner over and over again going deeper with every thrust. Justin clawed at his lovers back urging him on. Brian grabbed Justin’s thighs as he pushed himself deeper inside of his lover’s tight hole before leaning forward and attacking Justin’s lips once again. Justin, feeling this was going too slow, reversed their positions so that he was on top of Brian. Positioning himself how he wanted, Justin gripped Brian's shoulders and began to move on top of him, fucking himself on his partners cock. 

 

"Bri!" Justin moaned as he felt himself reaching his climax. He threw his head back and bit his lip before moving back down to kiss Brian again. Justin started moving at a faster pace until Brian stopped him and reversed positions again, with Justin beneath him. Soon they were moving rhythmically together again towards completion. As Justin's walls contracted around Brian’s cock, the friction he felt was incredible. With a few final thrusts Justin and Brian sent each other over the edge.

 

“Ahhh BRI!"

 

"JUS!"

 

After their climaxes had subsided, they both collapsed into the mattress sweat pouring down their bodies and both breathing hard. Brian stayed side Justin as Justin’s legs were clamped together around his waist. Brian nudged Justin’s leg and they fell to the side onto the bed. Brian slowly pulled out and discarded the condom. When he turned back to Justin he could see his body shaking. Concerned, Brian took Justin in his arms as he felt Justin crying, the sobs almost being ripped from Justin chest. Brian knew from the moment he saw Justin after he woke up that something was seriously wrong. He only hoped, as he held the sobbing Justin in his arms, that they would be able to survive this next crisis.


	17. Blonde Angel

Brian held his sobbing partner until he fell asleep. He could feel the pain coming off from Justin and found himself close to tears. He didn’t ask Justin what was wrong; he could tell Justin was exhausted and needed to sleep. He would definitely talk to his lover later though.

 

Brian could tell as soon as Justin woke him that something was definitely wrong. The look in Justin’s blue eyes was that of need, lust and pain. He knew that at that moment, Justin needed Brian to be inside him and Brian could never refuse Justin when he was like that. It reminded him of after the bashing. When Justin finally could be touched by Brian, he often came to him with the same look of need, lust and pain. Then Brian did the same; he made love to his partner and held him until he fell to sleep.

 

Brian watched Justin sleep until it was light outside. When he heard noise from his family in their living quarters he left Justin sleeping while he went to get breakfast, all the while wondering what had set his partner off and if he could help him through whatever if was.

 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

Justin woke up alone in bed. It was light outside and eerily quiet within their living quarters. He got up and put some sweat pants on and walked out of his and Brian’s bedroom. He walked down the hall towards the kitchen and living room, noticing that there was no noise coming from his family at all. He wondered what they were doing. He thought perhaps Max took them outside as none of them had left the living quarters since they had been rescued from White.

 

When he entered the living room it was bare. He went into the kitchen and that was bare too. Now that was strange; Deb was always in there cooking or cleaning. Confused, Justin went back to the living room. When he got there he stopped dead in his tracks and gasped. There in the middle of the room lay Brian. He was completely still, lying on his back, his head turned slightly towards Justin. His eyes were wide open and non-moving. He was clearly dead. Justin stood still in shock, tears of disbelief forming in his eyes.

 

Suddenly from the hallway stood White holding Gus. He pointed to Brian’s dead body and said to Justin, “You did that!”

 

Justin couldn’t move. “No,” he said quietly staring at Brian’s still form trying to convince himself that it wasn’t true. Brian wasn’t lying on the floor before him dead and White wasn’t holding Gus in his arms. Only Brian was dead and White was holding Gus.

 

He looked back up at White and no matter how much he wanted to he couldn’t move. He wanted to get to White. He wanted to save Gus, then at least one of the Kinney men would live. But he couldn’t he was rooted to his spot on the floor.

 

“You did this,” White said and then grabbed Gus’ head and twisted, breaking his neck with a loud snap.

 

“No!” Justin yelled, openly crying now and trying to move forward to get to White.

 

“Justin! JUSTIN!!”

 

Justin was shaken awake. He sat up in bed sweating and breathing heavily. Brian was sitting next to him looking concerned. Brian leaned close and put his hand on Justin shoulders. “You okay? You were having a nightmare,” he said with a hint of apprehension.

 

Justin looked at Brian as if he just noticed he was there. He jumped into his lover’s arms, not caring about any pain he felt from moving so quickly, the relief he felt was more powerful. “You’re okay! Oh my god! Oh thank god you’re okay!” Justin muttered while nuzzling Brian’s neck with his face, smelling his lover trying to convince himself that Brian was indeed okay.

 

Brian wasn’t sure how to respond to his distraught lover. He hugged him close and said over and over again, “Hey it’s alright. I’m fine, it’s okay.”

 

Justin eventually calmed down and pulled away. He stood up and put some sweat pants and a t-shirt on. “I’m hungry. Let’s get some food,” he said calmly.

 

“Justin, don’t shut down on me. What the fuck was that?” Brian asked getting up and moving towards his partner.

 

“Brian I’m really hungry. Can we talk later?” Justin said desperately trying to forget about his nightmare. 

 

Brian could tell he wouldn’t get anything out of Justin now so he let it drop. They walked together to the living room. 

Deb, Carl, Mel, Lindz, Michael, Ben, Hunter, Ted and Emmett were sitting in the living room talking and eating. Justin stopped and looked at them. They looked happy despite their current circumstances. He didn’t want anything to happen to them. Suddenly Joshua and Gus came running in laughing obviously playing the chasing game that they were now experts at. Gus looked happy too, playing with Joshua, carefree and just plain cute. The image of White snapping Gus’ neck came into Justin’s mind. He shook his head to rid himself of that picture. 

 

At that moment something clicked in Justin. He knew what had to be done and he would do it. “I have to go see Max,” Justin said determinedly turning to leave their living quarters.

 

“Justin stop!” Brian said getting in-between Justin and the doorway. “Tell me what the fucks going on. What was that all about? What the fuck was that comfort sex about?” he said quiet so as not to attract attention to them. 

 

Justin moved forward and touched his lover’s face. “Brian we’ll talk later. I need to see Max now. It’s important. I promise I’ll come back here and we’ll talk. I swear.”

 

Brian nodded. If Justin said he would come back and talk he would come back and talk. “I’ll wait here. Don’t take too long,” Brian said defeated.

 

Justin pressed a light kiss to Brian’s lips and left headed toward the Centre.

 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

Justin entered the Centre receiving stares from many of the transgenics. It was well known that their leader had been brutally injured while captured by White. He had not left his living quarters since he came home from the hospital and no one expected him to be moving around Terminal City until he was completely healed. Yet there he was moving quickly through the Centre towards Max and Logan at the central computer terminal.

 

“Max!” Justin said to get his sister’s attention.

 

Max turned from the computer screen shocked to see Justin. He looked better than he did the last time she saw him, but he had a weird look to him. “Jus, what’s wrong? Shouldn’t you be resting?” she said standing up and moving towards him.

 

“We need to talk NOW,” he said dangerously.

 

Max could tell that he had something important on his mind. She nodded and led him off alone to a small room just off from the Centre. She turned to him and said, “What’s up?”

 

“I’ve made a decision,” he stated simply.

 

“Yeah, about what?” Max asked confused.

 

“White. I’ve made a decision about him. Nothing changes. We’re still gonna kill him before he kills us,” Justin stated with determination.

 

Max had not expected this from Justin. He had only just found out that White was his brother. She expected him to dwell on this fact and at least form some emotion about killing him. But Justin seemed to be ignoring anything he would feel about White and him being brothers. This just wasn’t like him. “Jus, are you sure? I mean he’s your brother by blood. Are you sure you’re okay with this?”

 

“It’s the only way Max. I have to have no mercy when it comes to him. He certainly wouldn’t show me or anyone else any. It’s either he dies or we do. I personally would rather him dead. What about you?” Justin tried to convince Max.

 

Everything Justin was saying was true. White had to know that they were brothers and he didn’t hesitate to have Justin hurt. He had shown him no mercy and if Justin showed him any, Justin was sure to be killed. She knew it would be hard on Justin physically as well as emotionally, but it had to be done. “You’re right. As much as I hate to admit it, you’re right. We should meet with the leaders as soon as possible to figure out a way to fix it,” she said.

 

“We’ll meet. We’ll come to a decision together but in the end I think I need to deal with this. He threatened my family Max. The people that took me in and loved me no matter what. I need to deal with this,” Justin said with resolve.

 

Max nodded. This was no surprise to her. She knew that in the end Justin would be the one to deal with White. She just prayed that he was enough; White was a hard man to kill.

 

“One more thing Max. No one is to know that White is my brother. Not any of the leaders, not Brian, not anyone. Get rid of the files that Logan found. No one is to find out,” Justin said gravely.

 

Max nodded in agreement. It would be hard to keep this information quiet, especially from his family, but it was essential that no one know. If everyone at Terminal were to find out it would undermine Justin’s leadership and would make finding White and killing him even harder.

 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

With his mind clear in what had to be done, Justin made his way slowly back to his living quarters. He knew he had to do this. After his nightmare Justin was shaken to the core. The reality that White could kill his family had struck him with such power that he had known what had to be done.

 

He was well aware what killing White would do to him. He had worked for a long time to rid himself of the hardness he had to have in himself when we was in Manticore. It took years for him to be able to have normal emotions and be able to show them. He was proud of that. But he knew that killing White, his own brother, would purge all that. After killing White he knew he wouldn’t be that same person afterwards. He only hoped that Brian and his family would be able to accept and love that man he was to become.


	18. Chapter 18

  
Author's notes: Sorry for the long, long, long wait guys. I've had no time at all to write but I will try to finish this series. Anyway onto the story.... BTW you may want to read back over the chapters to know what's going on.  
  
Justin makes a difficult decision and goes to extreme lenghts to accomplish his goals.  


* * *

Rather than go straight back to talk to Brian as promised, Justin decided to call an emergency meeting with all the leaders at Terminal. It was important to him to get plans started on dealing with White and the Familiars, so that as soon as he was well the plan could go into action.

 

They were seated at a large round table in the Centre. As well as Max, Logan and Alec, there were ten of the leaders at Terminal City assembled waiting for Justin to commence the meeting. He walked into the room actually looking the part of the leader that he was thought to be. He was dressed in black leather from head to toe with leather boots, pants and jacket. He had the confidence of a person in charge and did not look like a man that very recently was at deaths door. 

 

When he sat at the table everyone went silent waiting for him to speak. Any nerves that Justin would have previously felt at having everyone’s attention like this were gone. Justin was determined now and went back to his old military training as a person in charge. It was built into him and even he had to admit he was good at leading people into war. And that’s exactly how he saw it. They were at war with White.

 

“I called this meeting today for an important reason. Today we strategize a plan of action for the Familiars. I am happy to hear any ideas you all might have but remember one thing- leave White for me,” Justin said with authority in his voice. He turned to look beside him at Mole, the leader in charge of tactical and recon. “First I want to hear from tactical about what the Familiars activities of recent. Mole?” 

 

“We’ve been tracking the five tribe leaders of the Familiars. Their activities of late are simply put- non-existent. Since our near victory against White they have rejected him and everything he stands for. It seems not only do they want peace, but they wish to live out their existence quietly and without notice from the government. They have been used more than once for the use of their abilities by the government. They are mostly peaceful people but there are some renegades out there, namely White and his men that are violent and hell bent on our destruction. However, since their numbers now are severely depleted, they do not pose as much of a threat to us anymore. White is still our most adversary opponent, but as 400 said he wishes to dispose of him himself,” Mole told the group. He then continued. “That is not to say that we can feel completely safe. The humans still see us as a threat and are still a danger to our existence.” 

 

Max continued on for Mole. “The Familiars are no longer a direct threat to us. The humans however do pose a problem. In order for us to not appear a threat to them we must not use violence on them, which can be hard when they’re kicking our asses.”

 

“Then we’ll have to appeal to them,” Justin spoke logically. “You think you can set up a meeting with the police chief,” he said to Logan who nodded. “Good. Organize a time and I’ll meet with him.” He took a deep breath and spoke again. “That leaves us with the matter of White. He is strong there is not doubt of that. However like everyone else he does have a weakness. He has a young son called Ray. He is being raised by humans and is almost completely unguarded. White does not know that we have this information. We can use this boy to get to White and catch him off guard. Opps will collect the boy and bring him back to Terminal. I want it easy for White to know we have him.” 

 

“Sir, won’t White come to Terminal. That’s putting everyone here at risk,” one of the leaders spoke up.

 

“It is my hope that White does come here. We will be waiting for him. It will make my assault on him all the more easy. If we fight on my terms I can win. Know one thing though. The boy is to be unharmed. We will not stoop to his level,” Justin warned.

 

“Sir what about your family? Won’t they be in danger? We’ll need to guard them closely,” one of the other leaders pointed out.

 

“I’ve thought long and hard about that. It’s true that keeping them here is putting them in direct danger. That’s why I’ve organized for them to be transported back home to Pittsburgh safely. I’ll have some of our people stay in the Pitts until the situation with White is cleared up. They’ll be safer there,” Justin said with finality. 

 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

Brian paced the length of his and Justin’s sleeping quarters. Justin had said he would come straight back and talk to him once he had finished talking to Max. That was three hours ago. Brian was getting impatient and the longer he waited the more worried he got. The way Justin had acted and the nightmare he had had just before he left to find Max had him very concerned. The more worried he got the angrier he got. He hated feeling like this and somehow Justin was constantly causing these emotions to surface in him.

 

“Fuck it!” Brian snapped and left the room quick in search of his lover. He wasn’t the type of person to sit around and wait for anyone, including Justin. He knew where he was anyway. He headed straight for the Centre.

 

When he got to the main entrance to the Centre he noticed that it was unusually quiet. ‘There must be a meeting of the leaders on,’ he thought to himself. Usually Brian wasn’t concerned with what happened at these meeting and would stay away. Today however, after Justin’s abrupt departure hours before he was curious as to what was being discussed. He slowly and quietly made his way into the Centre until he could see the main table with all the leaders assembled below in the center of the room. He still couldn’t hear what was being said so he slowly made his way closer without being seen.

 

“Sir what about your family? Won’t they be in danger? We’ll need to guard them closely,” Brian heard one of the other leaders say to Justin. This immediately caught his attention. He continued to listen intently.

 

“I’ve thought long and hard about that. It’s true that keeping them here is putting them in direct danger. That’s why I’ve organized for them to be transported back home to Pittsburgh safely. I’ll have some of our people stay in the Pitts until the situation with White is cleared up. They’ll be safer there,” Brian heard Justin say. He immediately went to action. 

 

“The fuck we are!!!” Brian yelled as he continued further into the main room making his presence known. 

 

Justin stood up from his chair at the table and turned to his partner. “Brian, what are you doing here? This meeting doesn’t concern you,” he said coldly. 

 

“The fuck it doesn’t when you’re trying to organize mine and my families lives!” Brian yelled. He was angry and scared. Angry because he never accepted people trying to run his life and scared because Justin wanted him gone, and if he wasn’t there he couldn’t help protect his partner.

 

“Not now Brian,” Justin said trying to dismiss his lover.

 

“Yes now Justin,” Brian said with fury.

 

Justin looked at his partner and could see the anger just below the surface. He could also see the fear in his eyes but chose to ignore that. Becoming emotional now would not improve his current situation. He pushed his emotions down and ignored his compulsion go to his partner and comfort him. He did know that Brian would not let this go so he decided to conclude the meeting.

 

“We’ll convene later tonight and continue,” he said to the people at the table. He turned to Brian and motioned for him to follow, then headed towards their living quarters, with Brian following close behind.

 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

“What the fuck Justin!?” Brian yelled once the couple had entered their room.

 

“Brian would you quit yelling at me,” Justin snapped as he closed the door to their bedroom. He then turned back to his partner and continued on. “I don’t see why you’re so mad anyway. It’s better that you all go home. I’ve put your lives on hold long enough.”

 

“Oh fuck the guilt shit Justin, you’re making your family leave you when you need us most,” Brian said back trying to calm himself.

 

“I don’t need you! I don’t need anyone,” Justin said coldly, holding back his emotions.

 

“Bullshit Justin. You’re just like us. You’re no less human than I am. You need me because you love me, just like I…I love you,” Brian whispered the last part. He had never said he loved Justin out loud but he was getting worried about Justin’s behaviour. He could see Justin was going to push him away and he had to stop it somehow. “I love you Justin,” Brian repeated louder this time. When Justin continued to stay silent with a blank look on his face Brian became more concerned. Justin wasn’t listening to him. Brian couldn’t push past his walls. “Justin?” he said carefully as he approached his silent partner. 

 

When Brian reached for his lovers hand Justin noticeably flinched and backed away from his partner. 

 

“What do you want me to say Brian? I wasn’t made for loving, I was made for fighting. I don’t even know how to love Brian.” Justin pushed his emotions down as far as he could. He knew he was about to hurt his lover deeply and it was breaking his heart, but he knew this was the only way Brian would leave with the family to safety. 

 

“That’s not true Justin. You love all of us. Your mom, Debbie, Gus…me, I know you love me Justin,” Brian tried to convince the blonde.

 

“Do you? You think I wasn’t taught the art of deception Brian,” Justin took a deep breath to deliver the final blow. “It was all fake Brian. Everything. My love for my family. You, me it wasn’t real. I never loved you Brian. I never loved anyone. I used you all to fit in, and now you’ve all used up you’re usefulness so it’s time for you to go. It’s over.”

 

As Justin had expected, and hoped, Brian looked broken. He looked at Justin with a pained face and unshed tears in his eyes for a full minute, until he walked past Justin and out the door without a backward glance. Justin was left alone in the bedroom he shared with his now ex-partner. He allowed himself a minute for his silent tears and then took some deep calming breaths, pushing his emotions down with all his might. He had broken the heart of the man that he did indeed love with all his heart, but he knew it was for Brian’s own good as well as his own. He quickly left the room with a blank expression on his face. He had work to do. There was no time for feeling sorry for himself.


End file.
